But I can see better than I did.  Right now I’m at the 4-times a day, three different eye drops stage.  The surgery was pretty fast, getting ready for it was like getting ready for a major surgery though.  Strip down, put on the gown, put on the blue party hat, get the IV in the top of the hand, a million or so more eye drops in the eye that was going to get a new lens, and off we went.  I had a great anesthesiologist who listened to me whine about motion sickness.  Even though I wasn’t going to be put completely under, he said there were two components in the IV drip/sedation and one of them could cause nausea…he gave me an anti-nausea dose first and left the one out of the IV that could make me sick.  YIPPEE!  I came through it like a breeze.

Marie appeared to chauffeur me around after they called her and away we went.  We headed for The Martin and their new digs.  Very nice!  Very nice view!  And it was the first time I’ve got to visit with Gary in a number of months. I was going to take my camera but hell…I could barely see anything.  It was impossible to put on my glasses with the big plastic eye protector that was taped on my face, so I took it off.  I simply didn’t take my camera.

We went to lunch/brunch at The Blind Pig which is right by The Martin — Carole joined us and had to leave early because she got a call from her neighbor that her dog had stuck his head through the fence and they couldn’t get it out so Marie and I finished our food and then went back to her place for a few.  Sylvia was supposed to join us but she called and couldn’t make it.

I had to hit my eye doctor’s office before leaving town, it was up at the end of Sunset Road, and Marie was kind enough to take me there too.  By the time the doctor’s assistant put another set of drops in my eye, it was like looking through a whiteout in a blizzard.  I could see nothing. UGH! The doc told me to give it a few days and it would improve.  It did.  Problem is now I can’t see anything clearly in that eye if I put on my glasses. The other eye glass has a clear lens except for the bifocal part.  I went to Walmart a few days ago and asked them to remove the lens from my glasses for that eye…much better.  And I’m still wearing the massive wraparound sunglasses when I go outside. They always make me think of a bug.

Of course it’s always sit and wait when you go to the doctor…their time is valuable, yours is shit. That’s what we did.  Marie brought reading material and when I was taken into the back, more drops added, and sent to another waiting room that was semi-dark, I leaned back into the wall for a headrest and closed my eyes.  What the hell else is there to do?  It all worked out.

After that was over Marie took me back to my rig at the surgery center and I drove home.  It wasn’t until I got about 20 minutes from home that the steam went out of my sails and I was so tired I could barely stay focused…long day…it started at 4 a.m.

When I head in for the other eye surgery, I think my sis will drive me in since I won’t have clear vision in either eye and won’t get a new eyeglass prescription until both eyes are done.  No driving myself home is what it comes down to.

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I have a hike coming up in the first part of March that originally was planned as a Death Valley hike, but we planned to do it in February.  Then the eye surgery and doctor follow up appointments happened so the hike was postponed.  I think we may hike Cathedral Canyon and then head for the China Date Farm – possibly hike one of the trails there.

Out for the night…the ayes have it!