Dave thought it was hilarious when they put a hair net on his head....he has no hair on his head but plenty on his beard which is just as close to his eye. He had surgery to repair a retinal hole. Surgery is done on an outpatient basis. His retinal opthamologist is Dr Brown.
They put a sticker to mark the correct eye for surgery.
They have already dilated his eye. During the surgery, they remove the fluid which means the floatings should be gone. Then they put in a gas bubble which is absorbed as fluid replaces it. The gas bubble holds the area that needs to be fixed in place much like a band-aid would do. Then they send you home with an eye patch for 24 hours.
Once you are home, you have numerous eye drops morning and night plus you must keep your head down so the bubble presses up against the hole being repaired. You must do this for a week.
You can be up for about 5 minutes an hour to go to the bathroom or eat but it is critical to a successful recovery that you keep your head down.
This would be difficult for anyone but when you have a bad back, it is really hard and painful. Here he is watching TV through a mirror....it was upside down and backwards but it kept him occupied.
Postscript: This is a week after surgery. He had a followup the day after surgery and then another one a week after. The bubble was still covering the hole area so we had to go back again a few days later so they could scan it again to see how it was doing. Two weeks later he still has things floating around but vision is beginning to clear and he doesn't see a big black spot where the hole in the retina would so we are hoping for a good recovery overall.
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