ERM procesure in 3 days and my anxiety is building

@brian24 Thank you so much! I survived the procedure, it was not as bad as I imagined, the procedure I think was less than 20 minutes and I was out. Surgeon said it went well, I have a cup taped over my eye, no pain, a little soreness, and when I move my eyelid it feels a little like sand got in my eye. I have a post-op appointment today to follow up.

Yesterday was my vitrectomy membrane peel procedure, it went well.

Since my procedure was scheduled at 1pm, and my pre-op instructions said no food or drink after midnight, that was a tough one as my mouth was dry when I woke up at 7am and couldn't drink anything.

Arrived at the surgical center at noon, filled out forms and checked in, the nurse came out and I went inside to get prepped. Laid down on a bed, gave me some eye drops, marked which eye to operate, they put an IV in me, oxygen in my nose, blood pressure machine, sensors for heart rate etc...so now I can't move my arms as one arm had the IV the other arm had the blood pressure restrain. This is probably the most uncomfortable time because I was in that position for about 30 minutes, during which I started to feel an itch behind my neck. I can't scratch it and I can't move it feels like pins and needles, and at times the machine beeped red saying "RR level high" but no one walking around seem to care...I think it relates to my respiratory rate?

Finally the anesthesiologist came and asked me about allergies, and explained that I will be awake throughout the procedure, but they will need to knock me out for 2 minutes first, during which time the surgeon will do an injection to the back of my eye. When the surgeon appeared, he asked if I was nervous, I said yes, he said he was not nervous, they knocked me out, and when I came too again, I couldn't see with my right eye, it is like a piece of frosted glass over the entire visual field.

They rolled me into the OR, and put a plastic cover over my entire body including the left eye, only the right eye was exposed but since I can't see, I don't know what was going on.

They put a speculum on my eye, and for the next 10 minutes, I could only hear a few whispers, some background music, and occasionally the sound of power tools kind of similar to the tools used when you go get dental cleaning. I know my vitreous fluid would be extracted, the membrane to be peeled, and new fluid injected, stitches, but I could not feel any of this and finally, the surgeon said OK, they started to tape up my eye, I said, are we done this is over, surgeon said "all finished no issue see you tomorrow in my office".

Afterwards, the eye feels a little sore, but no pain. I was told to take Tylenol if needed, but I didn't. If I tried to open or close the one eye under the cup, it feels a little like sand in my eye and I think this must be the stitches.

I am going to take it easy for a few days and hope the vision gets better sooner or later.

@brian24 Thank you so much! I survived the procedure, it was not as bad as I imagined, the procedure I think was less than 20 minutes and I was out. Surgeon said it went well, I have a cup taped over my eye, no pain, a little soreness, and when I move my eyelid it feels a little like sand got in my eye. I have a post-op appointment today to follow up.

Yesterday was my vitrectomy membrane peel procedure, it went well.

Since my procedure was scheduled at 1pm, and my pre-op instructions said no food or drink after midnight, that was a tough one as my mouth was dry when I woke up at 7am and couldn't drink anything.

Arrived at the surgical center at noon, filled out forms and checked in, the nurse came out and I went inside to get prepped. Laid down on a bed, gave me some eye drops, marked which eye to operate, they put an IV in me, oxygen in my nose, blood pressure machine, sensors for heart rate etc...so now I can't move my arms as one arm had the IV the other arm had the blood pressure restrain. This is probably the most uncomfortable time because I was in that position for about 30 minutes, during which I started to feel an itch behind my neck. I can't scratch it and I can't move it feels like pins and needles, and at times the machine beeped red saying "RR level high" but no one walking around seem to care...I think it relates to my respiratory rate?

Finally the anesthesiologist came and asked me about allergies, and explained that I will be awake throughout the procedure, but they will need to knock me out for 2 minutes first, during which time the surgeon will do an injection to the back of my eye. When the surgeon appeared, he asked if I was nervous, I said yes, he said he was not nervous, they knocked me out, and when I came too again, I couldn't see with my right eye, it is like a piece of frosted glass over the entire visual field.

They rolled me into the OR, and put a plastic cover over my entire body including the left eye, only the right eye was exposed but since I can't see, I don't know what was going on.

They put a speculum on my eye, and for the next 10 minutes, I could only hear a few whispers, some background music, and occasionally the sound of power tools kind of similar to the tools used when you go get dental cleaning. I know my vitreous fluid would be extracted, the membrane to be peeled, and new fluid injected, stitches, but I could not feel any of this and finally, the surgeon said OK, they started to tape up my eye, I said, are we done this is over, surgeon said "all finished no issue see you tomorrow in my office".

Afterwards, the eye feels a little sore, but no pain. I was told to take Tylenol if needed, but I didn't. If I tried to open or close the one eye under the cup, it feels a little like sand in my eye and I think this must be the stitches.

I am going to take it easy for a few days and hope the vision gets better sooner or later.

I am right now on day 4 after surgery. I thought I would provide a brief progressive update.

Day 0 - the day of surgery, right after the surgery, my operated eye (right eye) was completely covered by a plastic cup and taped over my face. Inside the cup they stuff some tissue paper to kind of keep my eye closed, so it was difficult to open my eye a little. I felt on pain, and after surgery I drank two bottles of water because I had nothing to drink since midnight and my surgery was 1pm the next afternoon. I eye felt a little sore, and I did not take any Tylenol. There were no bleeding or leakage that I could tell, I basically stay in bed except for meals and bathroom breaks. Note that I have a membrane peel procedure so no need to do the face down some of you had to.
Day 1 - first thing in the morning 8am was the post-op appointment with the retinal surgeon. First it was the tech who pulled the tapes and opened the eye patch, my first reaction was double vision. There was a rectangular mirror on the wall and I saw two mirrors a clear one from my left good eye and a blurry outline of a second mirror to it's lower right. She irrigated my eye and took my eye pressure, it was 10. Read the eye chart and my right eye couldn't read, I could see the outlines of the letters but it was not only blurry but also distorted, the letter B and number 8 looked the same to me. For some reason they didn't do a retinal OCT scan that day, when the doctor saw me he looked into my eye with a bright light and said looks good, swelling, some bleeding and sore is normal. I have been using Bromfenac 0.09% drops 2X a day to try to control the ERM and Latanoprost 0.05% 1X a day to control IOP, he said to continue with those two and go back in one week. The rest of the day when I opened and closed the eye it felt a little like sand in the eye, and I think that may be the stitches interfering. I looked at my eye in the mirror and my right eye was swollen and blood shot. Wore an eye shield at night.
Day 2 - I woke up and looked in the mirror and the eye has swollen even more, I can't even open my eye lid half way. I took multiple naps and kept the eye shield on all day since I laid down most of the time.
Day 3 - The swelling seems to have reduced a bit, eye still blood shot, but I can open my eye lid a bit wider, the sand in my eye sensation has gone, but feeling some itching sensation around the eye. I used some cotton pads with distilled water to clean the area near the eye very gently. Vision is still unsteady, I would say worse because prior to the surgery, my left eye was basically taking over, now after surgery, the right eye is affecting the overall vision, so I am hoping that it will improve over time where both eyes will help each other instead of fighting.
Day 4 - The swelling has subsided a little bit more, the eye white area still look quite red and raw, but as long as it's improving, I am hopeful.

Right now I was told I can't carry anything heavier than 5 pounds, so I don't know how long before I can go grocery shopping where I can carry the groceries back inside the house instead of one bag at a time. Heavier stuff like a 2L bottle of water or a watermelon I just can't do it without help.

I am right now on day 4 after surgery. I thought I would provide a brief progressive update.

Day 0 - the day of surgery, right after the surgery, my operated eye (right eye) was completely covered by a plastic cup and taped over my face. Inside the cup they stuff some tissue paper to kind of keep my eye closed, so it was difficult to open my eye a little. I felt on pain, and after surgery I drank two bottles of water because I had nothing to drink since midnight and my surgery was 1pm the next afternoon. I eye felt a little sore, and I did not take any Tylenol. There were no bleeding or leakage that I could tell, I basically stay in bed except for meals and bathroom breaks. Note that I have a membrane peel procedure so no need to do the face down some of you had to.
Day 1 - first thing in the morning 8am was the post-op appointment with the retinal surgeon. First it was the tech who pulled the tapes and opened the eye patch, my first reaction was double vision. There was a rectangular mirror on the wall and I saw two mirrors a clear one from my left good eye and a blurry outline of a second mirror to it's lower right. She irrigated my eye and took my eye pressure, it was 10. Read the eye chart and my right eye couldn't read, I could see the outlines of the letters but it was not only blurry but also distorted, the letter B and number 8 looked the same to me. For some reason they didn't do a retinal OCT scan that day, when the doctor saw me he looked into my eye with a bright light and said looks good, swelling, some bleeding and sore is normal. I have been using Bromfenac 0.09% drops 2X a day to try to control the ERM and Latanoprost 0.05% 1X a day to control IOP, he said to continue with those two and go back in one week. The rest of the day when I opened and closed the eye it felt a little like sand in the eye, and I think that may be the stitches interfering. I looked at my eye in the mirror and my right eye was swollen and blood shot. Wore an eye shield at night.
Day 2 - I woke up and looked in the mirror and the eye has swollen even more, I can't even open my eye lid half way. I took multiple naps and kept the eye shield on all day since I laid down most of the time.
Day 3 - The swelling seems to have reduced a bit, eye still blood shot, but I can open my eye lid a bit wider, the sand in my eye sensation has gone, but feeling some itching sensation around the eye. I used some cotton pads with distilled water to clean the area near the eye very gently. Vision is still unsteady, I would say worse because prior to the surgery, my left eye was basically taking over, now after surgery, the right eye is affecting the overall vision, so I am hoping that it will improve over time where both eyes will help each other instead of fighting.
Day 4 - The swelling has subsided a little bit more, the eye white area still look quite red and raw, but as long as it's improving, I am hopeful.

Right now I was told I can't carry anything heavier than 5 pounds, so I don't know how long before I can go grocery shopping where I can carry the groceries back inside the house instead of one bag at a time. Heavier stuff like a 2L bottle of water or a watermelon I just can't do it without help.