My Surgery Experience

by Susan
(Cypress, TX)

October 10, 2013 I had my first eye cataract removed. I was surprised not to have any pain afterwards. I even told a friend that the surgery was a piece of cake. Not so with eye number two done on October 24, 2013. I was taken to the operating room well in advance of the doctor arriving. This gave me plenty of time to become uncomfortable. When the doctor finally arrived all was well until he started putting the instrument in to keep my eye open. I was fairly relaxed with the small amount of sedation given to me, when suddenly I felt this severe pain. I hollered out "Stop, please, it hurts.". I said this over and over as the doctor kept trying to insert this in my eye. The person giving me the sedation by inserting it in an iv type arrangement said, "I can give her some additional sedation, it will just take 3 or 4 minutes.". The doctor wouldn't wait and again tried jamming it into my eye socket. Thank goodness the additional medicine finally kicked in. I have blood in the outer side of the white part of that eye. This is now the third day and my eye is very sore and the blood has not dissolved yet in my eye. I asked him about the pain at my follow-up the next morning. He said you have to be alert for the instrument to be put in. I wish I would have thought to ask him, then why did I have no pain during the first surgery!!!