| d a n i e l m c k i n n o n . c o m | |
| Wednesday January 18, 2006 I arrived at the doctor's office at 8:30am for my surgery, incredibly nervous at what was to come. After signing the proper consent forms for the procedure and writing a check of $7,500, I was brought into an office and started to be prepped. Telling everyone that I was incredibly nervous and outright scared about the surgery, I was asked if I wanted any Valium to calm my nerves, which I quickly responded "Yes!" to. I swallowed the 20mg of Valium and a Diomax pill, which started to take effect right away. I was still scared, but a lot more able to cope from that point on. After being doped up, I began to receive anesthetic eye drops in each eye, and I started to develop a headache where it felt like there were fishing lines attached to my eyeballs with 1,000 pound weights on the other end. It literally felt like my eyes were being pulled out of my head. After sitting for a little while in the dark and given a Tylenol to help with the pain, the moment had arrived. I entered the operating room and was instructed to lie down on a table with my head lying in a circle at one end, my legs up in the air on a foam cushion on the other. I was handed a stuffed boxer (a play on the surgeon's name, Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler) to hold for support during the whole operation, and it was a really nice touch that really helped out a lot. After lying down, the surgery was begun on my right eye (they always do the right eye first, probably to not confuse which eye needs to be worked on first), where drapings were put in place over the entire area. The surgery itself is hard to report on. I knew what was involved, but I didn't want to ask when they were cutting or the play by play of what and when was going on. Whenever I felt pressure (it was always pressure, not exactly pain) they applied more topical anesthetic. Continued irrigation was always flooding into my eye the entire time to keep the area moist, and I was told to look at a little red light above my head. Probably the hardest part of the entire procedure was when I was told to look down from the little red light. Without a point of reference below the main red light, it was very difficult to focus on anything at all, especially with irrigation continually being squirted in my eye. For the right eye, I felt the moment when the IOL was put into place, and I am pretty sure that I also felt when the doctor was cutting into my eyeball. It was more scary than anything else. I just tried my best to do as they told me to and be a good patient. For a surgery that was supposed to take 22 minutes, my surgery was probably around an 45 minutes to an hour for each eye, and I guessed right the reason why. At the end of the first eye being operated on, I was told that due to the Coumadin (blood thinner) I take for my artificial heart valve, there was increased bleeding that the surgeon had to try and control. After I was sutured up, I was told to sit in a dark room for an hour or so to try and let the bleeding stop, and I was continually monitored by the doctors who kept looking inside my eye. After measuring my eye pressure, the levels finally settled down and I was brought into another room. I was informed by Dr. Boxer Wachler that if he operated on the left eye that things might not go so well, and I was risking possibly glaucoma, the IOLs having to be removed, or maybe even going blind. I told him that there was no turning back for me now. I had researched this procedure to death, and I knew that my Coumadin would cause issues (one of the main reasons why I was and still am glad that I went to go see one of the top eye surgeons in the world). The surgery was about to continue. The left eye was similar to the right eye, except this time I didn't really feel the cutting, or the IOL being slipped into place. To try and counteract the bleeding that occurred with the right eye, after the left eye was finished (in another 45 minutes or so), Dr. Boxer Wachler put fluid inside the left eye, and the results were much more promising from his perspective, my perspective, and others (my right eye is encased in blood even as I am typing this), while my left eye was clear. After arriving to the office at 8:30am, I left his office around 6:00pm, being picked up by a car from the Beverly Hilton. Even right off the operating room table I could read a clock on the wall only 20 feet away, a clock I wouldn't have been able to read even 2 feet away only the day before. I had a long road to go, but the healing process was now in full swing. I stumbled my way into my room at the Hilton and instantly got undressed and in bed. For the next couple of hours I was continually given my eye drops (Vigamox, Econopred Plus, Nevanac) by Mellisa and I was taking oral steroids to improve my healing process. I am not going to sugarcoat it, every time the Econopred Plus (steroid) drops were put into my eyes I was screaming in pain from the stinging. It wasn't fun, but I knew that I had to follow my doctor's orders to the tee in order to have the best possible results. After wearing my "snowboarder" goggles the entire day and trying to keep my eyes closed as much as possible, we ordered room service and I soon went to bed. Even with the goggles on and my stressful day, I didn't have much trouble falling asleep. Only hours after having my surgery, I could see the TV on the wall from my right eye (albeit not that clear), but I could see! No glasses, no contacts... it was the start of a long process that was already displaying positive results. The following morning I awoke to find that my vision had improved only 9 hours or so from the day before. Now my left eye was the dominant one in terms of positive results, and I was probably at 60% for my right eye but only about 15% for my right eye. After going to get breakfast, I arrived for my 1 day post-op and my doctors were very happy with the result thus far. My left eye was ahead of schedule, and I could already see (albeit VERY hazy) 20/80 with no glasses or contacts. From 20/1200 to 20/80 only a few days later... WOW!! I was told to increase the painful Econopred Plus steroid drops from 4 times a day to every hour for the next 2 days, then every 2 hours the following 2 days, and so on. After arriving back to my room I saw that my right eye was covered in blood (Mellisa didn't want to tell me so I wouldn't get scared), but Dr. Boxer Wachler was very happy with the result thus far. I'm on a heavy schedule of anti-inflanatory, steroid, and anti-bacterial drops and it's quite clear that I went to the right place. I don't think many doctors in the world would have been able to quickly handle my unique situation with my Coumadin, and I don't think many doctors would have had such an experienced regime for post-op care. It might have cost a lot of money to have this surgery and stay in Beverly Hills for such a long time, but I don't have any regrets about flying out to California. It's going to be long process to heal and get where I want (and can) to be, but I am confident with my doctor and the support of my family and friends I will get there, glasses free and able to start my new life. |