A %^&%ing needle in the eye.





Oh, details?

I've had a growth on my eye for quite a few years now. Never really paid any attention to it because it never bothered me. Last fall, I noticed if I looked all the way to my left, it was visible in certain conditions. That seemed to get worse, so I finally saw a doctor about it a couple weeks ago.

Doc came in, looked at my eye and said those words you always want to hear a doc say - "Yeah, that won't be a problem," followed by the ones you never want to hear - "I'm not worried about that, I'm more concerned about this." I thought it was a patch of dead skin on my eyelid - he's concerned it may be something more. Gave me a cream for it, looked at it today, said it looks a bit better, but he wants to monitor it.

But the main reason for today's visit was the growth. I had a choice two weeks ago - outpatient surgery under sedation, which meant a hospital visit, or do it in the office under a local. Said it would be maybe about half an hour. I decided to do it in the office.

He came in, took a look at the eyelid and a couple pics of it, and said to hop up on the table. That's when my wife vamoosed (she's not good with blood and cutting). He told me about the shots, that I'd feel a pinch followed by some stinging and maybe some burning. First shot - no issue. Second shot, about the same. Felt a little stinging on the third shot, and a little pain from the shot. Those were all on the side of my head. Number four? To the inside of the growth, not quite in the eye, but very near the tear duct there.

Mentally, I went through a lot of my vocabulary.

But after that, the growth came off pretty easily (from what he said - I had my eye closed, not that I'd have seen anything anyway). I could feel him working, but no pain from that. The weirdest sensation was the thread dragging across my eyelid when he stitched it up. He gave me a mirror afterwards and said he thought it would heal up nicely. Seriously? I said, "If it looks like this when it's done, I'll be more than happy." You couldn't even tell I'd had anything done.

Back in three weeks for a follow-up. Very minor discomfort tonight, a little bleeding and pain when I yawned earlier and kind of scrunched up my eyes reflexively. I was out of the office in under 15 minutes. The look on my wife's face was hysterical - like I was the last person she expected to walk out. Oh, and no bandages, either - she said our daughter will be disappointed because she was hoping I'd have a patch. Very happy with the doc - there was just an article that rated him one of the best in the area (rankings were done by other docs). Not hard to see why.

Not hard to "see" why. Yeah, that hurt a bit.

Well, at first I thought you meant like dropping a food can on your bare foot or something.

Good luck with the monitoring, though.

Yikes. Glad to hear it went well, Alan.

Ouch! Good luck with your recovery.

Best wishes, Alan.

Best wishes - worst is behind you now.

For me biggest pain (besides a Yankee losing streak) was/is kidney stones - experienced them 3 times - the latest being last week. Wouldn't wish it on a Red Sox fan.

Glad your OK, Alan. That sounded scary. I'd rather be knocked out.

I believe it went something like this.

"So, you're keen on music?"

What's the frequency Kenneth or is it Alan today?

A handshake line tomorrow night with Ottawa celebrating will be worse than a needle in the eye.

Great you got through it and hopefully no problems in 3 weeks.

It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a needle to pass through the eye of Alan.

Actually, it probably isn't.

I hope you have an easy recovery.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Alan. Yikes!

Anything that starts out with a needle to the eye potential is a big old nope for me. Best wishes!

Amen to that. I had cataract surgery last week. They put me under for part of it. Then they stick a needle underneath your eye. You wake up in the middle of it. It wasn't too bad. No pain when they are removing the old lens and putting in a new one. LOL, however, my preference would have been to be out cold for the whole thing.

I hear you. They've wanted to do cataract surgery on me for abou t9 years; but I was told by the DR it involved a knife in the eyeball & they would not put me to sleep, so I said no. I've heard rumor the procedure has improved since than, but I'm now on a medicine for an unrelated issue that doesn't allow cataract surgery at all. So far I can still legally drive.

Yes, Geff, as a matter of fact they now can apparently do cataract surgery with laser technology. As I was convincing myself to get it done, I saw ads on TV for the Eye Guys, "come and see us if you are thinking about cataract surgery." "With laser technology it is safer and more accurate". I didn't go with them since they were in 1 state over and didn't know if they took my insurance. I really was up against it, since I had to renew my license. I do not believe I could have passed the test for it and I did not want to get another pair of glasses. One eye was really blurry. Now for the 1st time in my life I don't need glasses.

If it wasn't for the medicine interaction, I would be considering it; it has gotten worse. At this point my eye surgeon is willing to sign a legal driving waiver (saying I'm safe to drive). So far, the state hasn't requested it.

I really don't know how it's going to play out; a specialist says I need to be on this medication for life; & my eye surgeon agreed with what I've read that cataract surgery is not an option while I'm on the medicine (& I didn't ask how long of a break from the medicine I would have to take).

It's a medicine for um....... elderly male issues that put me in the hospital briefly in February. And not an optional type of issue.

If you want to cringe at both gory eye surgery photos and horrifically bad late '90s web design, you can check out my cornea transplant diary from 1999.

http://web.archive.org/web/201008221631 ... ransplant/

How is your eye now?