![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Just got home from the eye specialist.
I have a padding thingy taped over my numb left eye. It feels wierd 'cos the left eye keeps drifting just open and making my sight come over with a veil of dark closedness, which looks remarkably like the beginnings of the snowed-tv vision I get before I faint, but everything is still in colour, not black and white.
The specialist guy called me into the room, asked me a couple of questions (lit. "Why are you here, what's wrong?" and "What drugs are you taking?"), put drops in my eye, did the vision acuity test, asked me if the lack of visual acuity in my left eye was normal (to which I did not respond with "That's why I wear glasses, dude!" - it's more than my glasses are prescribed for, but I was sorely tempted), then looked at my eye and eyelid with the eye doctor face harness and magnifying thingy. "Yes, it's a chalazion, I'm going to have to incise it" says the doctor and motions me into the back room. He swabs my eyelid with betadine, puts more drops in my eye, and puts in the fricking' needle for the anaesthetic. I have mentioned before that needles hurt. All needles. On a scale of 1 (what they're supposed to feel like) through 5 (arm) to 10 (roof of mouth) this was about a prolonged and twitchy four.
My arm is aching where my last needle was, though.
I get to hold padding on my eye really hard, which is freaky since I can feel the spreading numbness underneath, but apparently I didn't hold it hard enough for it all to spread properly, so the doctor, having poked FUCKING HARD on my EYEBALL to check, swabs again with betadine and pushes as hard as I need to push with the padding to show me how much, and goes out to talk to the next patient. While he is out I text Bastard and tell him what is happening, since I was expecting this to be just an appointment to see if I needed to have needles and scalpels and stuff, not the actual sharp things, and he needed to be at training in about half an hour at this point.
Eventually the doctor comes back in and pokes again. Evidently it's all good this time, because then he gets out a little screwclamp and tells me he's going to put it on my eyelid. I'm glad I read up on this all, because otherwise I would have freaked out worse at this point, as well as having my normal needle adrenaline arghs. So he takes the little clamp thing, flicks it around my eyelid skin and tightens it. I'm sure I'm not supposed to feel it through the anaesthetic, but it doesn't hurt and it's very far away so I'm OK. Then he turns the eyelid up, and let me tell you, unlike when I turn my own eyelid up, I can't see since either my eyeball is squooshed down or my lower lid is coming up to compensate, or my eyeball is rolling down in it's socket 'cos it's freaking out quietly, just like me. I'm glad I can't see the scalpelling of my eyelid. He basically stabbed it, then fucked around with a probe, which felt a lot like a dentist using a pick on your teeth, except I can feel it all like someone is poking through my sinuses to my brain. Doesn't hurt, but I'm whimpering with the wierd feeling of picking and poking and at one point, swirling around. Yes, I know, I just switched to present tense instead of past tense. So sue me. Or make my lactose-free cocoa.
Then he takes the clamp off, plays with the eyelid some more, puts the clamp on again and fucks around some more.
Finally he takes it off for the last time, puts cream on my eyelid margin and pads then tapes. I ask him to get Bastard to listen to the instructions for aftercare (as I've had a needle and I don't remember details consciously well) he tells me that there's not much, gives me some instructions, I repeat them back to him, dubiously 'cos I'm already forgetting what he said, then he calls Bastard in and repeats them. Good doctor pat him on the head.
Bastard had to go to training, so he dropped me off near home, and went. So here I am, eye slowly regaining feeling.
Feels good to be doing something.
I have a padding thingy taped over my numb left eye. It feels wierd 'cos the left eye keeps drifting just open and making my sight come over with a veil of dark closedness, which looks remarkably like the beginnings of the snowed-tv vision I get before I faint, but everything is still in colour, not black and white.
The specialist guy called me into the room, asked me a couple of questions (lit. "Why are you here, what's wrong?" and "What drugs are you taking?"), put drops in my eye, did the vision acuity test, asked me if the lack of visual acuity in my left eye was normal (to which I did not respond with "That's why I wear glasses, dude!" - it's more than my glasses are prescribed for, but I was sorely tempted), then looked at my eye and eyelid with the eye doctor face harness and magnifying thingy. "Yes, it's a chalazion, I'm going to have to incise it" says the doctor and motions me into the back room. He swabs my eyelid with betadine, puts more drops in my eye, and puts in the fricking' needle for the anaesthetic. I have mentioned before that needles hurt. All needles. On a scale of 1 (what they're supposed to feel like) through 5 (arm) to 10 (roof of mouth) this was about a prolonged and twitchy four.
My arm is aching where my last needle was, though.
I get to hold padding on my eye really hard, which is freaky since I can feel the spreading numbness underneath, but apparently I didn't hold it hard enough for it all to spread properly, so the doctor, having poked FUCKING HARD on my EYEBALL to check, swabs again with betadine and pushes as hard as I need to push with the padding to show me how much, and goes out to talk to the next patient. While he is out I text Bastard and tell him what is happening, since I was expecting this to be just an appointment to see if I needed to have needles and scalpels and stuff, not the actual sharp things, and he needed to be at training in about half an hour at this point.
Eventually the doctor comes back in and pokes again. Evidently it's all good this time, because then he gets out a little screwclamp and tells me he's going to put it on my eyelid. I'm glad I read up on this all, because otherwise I would have freaked out worse at this point, as well as having my normal needle adrenaline arghs. So he takes the little clamp thing, flicks it around my eyelid skin and tightens it. I'm sure I'm not supposed to feel it through the anaesthetic, but it doesn't hurt and it's very far away so I'm OK. Then he turns the eyelid up, and let me tell you, unlike when I turn my own eyelid up, I can't see since either my eyeball is squooshed down or my lower lid is coming up to compensate, or my eyeball is rolling down in it's socket 'cos it's freaking out quietly, just like me. I'm glad I can't see the scalpelling of my eyelid. He basically stabbed it, then fucked around with a probe, which felt a lot like a dentist using a pick on your teeth, except I can feel it all like someone is poking through my sinuses to my brain. Doesn't hurt, but I'm whimpering with the wierd feeling of picking and poking and at one point, swirling around. Yes, I know, I just switched to present tense instead of past tense. So sue me. Or make my lactose-free cocoa.
Then he takes the clamp off, plays with the eyelid some more, puts the clamp on again and fucks around some more.
Finally he takes it off for the last time, puts cream on my eyelid margin and pads then tapes. I ask him to get Bastard to listen to the instructions for aftercare (as I've had a needle and I don't remember details consciously well) he tells me that there's not much, gives me some instructions, I repeat them back to him, dubiously 'cos I'm already forgetting what he said, then he calls Bastard in and repeats them. Good doctor pat him on the head.
Bastard had to go to training, so he dropped me off near home, and went. So here I am, eye slowly regaining feeling.
Feels good to be doing something.
Tags:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Then again, at the moment I'm getting about 5 punctures a fortnight at the moment (it was 4 a week), so a needle phobia probably isn't the best thing to have. Instead my phobia is the spring-loaded autolancets - I'd much rather use a needle any day than one of those. One of the primary reasons I don't want to develop diabetes is that I'd have great problems monitoring my blood sugar using one.
Then again, one time when they were trying to get an arterial blood-gas (which is always difficult since arteries are buried deep, are rather elastic, and not firmly attached to connective tissue (unlike veins). Three hours of probing with a needle later, and having had everyone in the clinic (which specialised in this sort of procedure) make the attempt (except the janitor, and there was more than a little debate that they should give him a try too), they eventually gave up. I can imagine your response to this happening.
From:
no subject
I rather think that I would make them give me a local for the arterial blood gas, and get someone to read to me.
From:
no subject
It was after my first donation that I learnt that even one beer afterwards is never a good idea...
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject