The worst bit was at the beginning, waiting for the three lots of eye drops to have their effects. Then it turned out there was a mistake about the expected sedation - could only be done with an anaesthetist present, and they hadn't booked one in for that day. So I had the choice - reschedule or go ahead with local anaesthetic only. I decided to go ahead.
As so often in life, the anticipation was worse than the reality. Really not too bad at all, definitely better than a root canal job. I shall not be worried about next time with the other eye. There was a minor problem early on with some of my eyelashes getting in the way but that was quickly sorted out.
Afterwards, more hanging around with an eye patch on while they sorted out the eye drops and the paperwork - all taking far longer than seemed reasonable, but that's hospitals for you. Following orders, I took the eye patch off at 7pm, and the improved vision in the left eye was instant and dramatic. Everything much sharper, colours more intense, and all of that. Now typing without glasses and seeing what's on screen is far, far easier than it's been for months - in fact my "bad" left eye is now showing up just how bad my "good" right one has become.
I did get just a hint of the "grittiness" in the eye that you're warned about, but that lasted only a couple of hours. No pain at all, but getting halos and diffraction patterns around bright lights. That's also expected and should go away in a few days. Also some occasional slight flickering on the left, which should resolve itself in the same way.
A bit of a struggle to pierce the tops of the eye drop bottles, but got there in the end. One is an antibiotic for a week, the other is an anti-inflammatory for 28 days. And guess what, it's my old friend dexamethasone back again...
Have to put the plastic eye shield back overnight for the first couple of nights. That may be a bit tricky with my bad left hand because it has to be taped in place, and hopefully in such a way that it doesn't interfere with the CPAP mask. But if I have to go a couple of nights without CPAP, it won't be a disaster.
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