There is a Little Sadist in Every Doctor...Except Mine

I originally posted this to my blog (TamraGarcia.blogspot.com) on Feb 25, 2014.

February 25, 2014 was round two of operation: Save Tiki's Eyesight. The week before, I had surgery on my right eye to clean up the mess made by years of damage from Diabetic Retinopathy. Today I went in for a check-up and laser surgery.

The original idea was to come in, check-up, and if all was well, go ahead and do laser surgery on both eyes. However, as soon as the doctor walked in and saw my badly bruised and swollen eyelids and still half bloodshot eye, he decided it would be prudent to wait another week on the right eye. He did examine it and do an ultrasound on it. The retina, which had been detached, was now reattached and healing well. There was some hemorrhaging as a result of the surgery which was now causing some obstruction to the doctor's view which was what ultimately made him decide to wait on the laser surgery.

He went ahead and did the laser surgery on my left eye which entailed numbing and dilating that eye and then putting an ungodly bright light in my eye and then making me look this way and that while a red/purple light flashed and clicked causing flashes of pain through my eye. This torture lasted several minutes and then was over. The pain lasted only a few minutes and then my eye was normal again.

I still have to keep my head facing down at all times for another week, even though the retina in my right eye is reattached. There is still gas in there holding the retina in place as it continues to heal. In one week I go back to the doctor to have a check-up and , hopefully, have the last of the laser surgery done.

I have to say that Dr. Hunter at Eye-Q in Fresno/Selma, Ca. is an excellent doctor and has an outstanding bedside manner. He apologized for "having to go through so much pain in such a short period of time." He has compassion that equals his great knowledge and ability as a doctor.