For 9 weeks, I had a persistent, disgusting sty. (Sty= a bacterial infection, like a pimple, that occurs inside an oil gland near the base of your eyelid.) I have never had one before, but I suppose moving across the globe makes your body susceptible to new breeds of infections.
It refused to go away with hot compresses and ointments. So on Thurs, I had minor surgery to remove it.
Both H and I were nervous as we waited for the doc. I’d never had a knife experience of any sort. The doctor knew I was nervous, and I think he was prepared for some drama from me.
The doc gave me 3 injections of local anesthesia around the eyelid, and then massaged all that fluid around my eyelids. They were so swollen he had to lift my upper eyelid open. Then he used a clip (very much like those black metal paper clips) to turn over my eyelid, so he could access the inside. Super uncomfy, even with the anesthesia.
He proceeded to cut the sty with a knife and scrape it. Then he used a pair of scissors and SNIPPED away for five horrifying, gruesome minutes. It was the snipping sound that was the scariest. I was wide awake- and in another situation, would look away, but how does one do that in an open eye surgery?
That means, I had couldn’t move a millimeter as I saw the doc approach my eye with a sharp pair of surgical scissors and all sorts of pokey things. It’s instinctual to look away. The whole time, I was thinking, “I cannot believe I am keeping this still as someone is cutting away inside my eye. Is it even humanly possible not to move or blink?”…Apparently, it is. I was so tensed that my whole body was rigid.
15mins later the LA wore off, and I felt like someone had punched me a dozen times in the eye. My eye was bloody, in pain and so swollen I couldn’t open it. I felt very drowsy and couldn’t walk straight.
And then I had bloody tears for 24hrs.
This is “minor surgery”, people. Imagine what childbirth or bypass surgery feels like.
H is squeamish but came in for moral support. Before the op I told him to hold my hand, but don’t look at the procedure. He held my hand, and WATCHED the whole thing. He said he would have opted for general anesthesia if he were me. He thinks I am super brave- but I wonder who is braver. Me for not moving at all, or him for watching the whole fiasco without squirming or fainting.
Maybe. Just maybe. There is a 3% chance he won’t faint if I give birth.
(Which makes me think of Jacob. Who’s going in with Ibby? Her mum or Jacob or both?)
The doc said I’d be back to normal in 2 days. It’s been three days, and my eyelid is still a little swollen. 10% of the sty is STILL there! (OMG) And the rim of my eye socket is black. Not blue-black— black. Where I was injected, it’s maroon and bruised. I’ve been doing what the doc advised but nothing seems to be helping. One eye is smaller than the other. Most of the improvement should have happened in the first 72 hours.
What scares me is this- my face scars very easily. I took off my nose stud 5 months ago and it left a permanent brown spot on my nose that doesn’t fade. I had a small cut on my head 4 mths ago and I have a dent in my forehead from that. (imagine, you haven’t seen me for a year, and I already have two new scars!) I had chicken pox 12 years ago, and it left potholes all over my face (not on my body, just my face). Each time, doctors, friends and family assured me 100 times that the scars will go away in time, but they didn’t. My face is a canvass of small mishaps that occur to everyone, but only leave a mark on me. To top off all my bad facial luck, I really do not want a small, puffy and black eye.
I am just doing what the doc says, trying to think positive and hope for the best.