I have finally gotten to the point where I can sit in front of the computer for a while. The surgery went well-and was very different from my expectation. The folks at Landstuhl from the nurse who saw me first in the pre-op room, " Quit fighting the eye drops-I'm going to win. We both know this."-to the team in the operating room to the folks in the post op area. They were all superb professionals and my gratitude towards them is immense. They really knew how to allay your fears on the way to the OR-and keep you talking about something else besides the fact that you are about to have the lens in one eye replaced.
The surgery was very different than what I expected. The numbing drops and the anesthesia relax you, but yet you re still awake. You can feel the motion around your eye-but nothing else. The doctor was very good about telling me about what he was doing. He asked me up front if I wanted the "play by play". I said no, "just give me the high points-and for God's sake don't use the word :OOPS." He complied with my request.
After they released me, wearing a guard over my eye that made me look like Cyclops-the S.O. drove me back to the VQ at Ramstein. Where I slept and slept and slept. The instructions after the surgery are simple. Don't touch your eye, use the drops 4 times a day, and what ever you do, don't bend over! Don't pick up anything heavy, and don't strain yourself. A blessing of sorts because I could get the S.O. to do everything-and I still got to watch all my favorite TV programs.
The other blessing has been I missed most of the political news. The debate between Romney and Obama has been beaten to death by the pundits. What parts I watched-I don't think the President did so bad, he was trying to act restrained and not call Romney a cocksucker-which he probably should have. Jim Leher deserves nothing but scorn for failing to keep Romney in his box. More on that to follow.
What probably escaped most American's attention was two things: Israel shot down a drone. ( Origin unknown) and Turkey authorized the use of military force against Syrian. Both are events that should scare most cognizant Americans. Unfortunately, the morons among my fellow citizenry are too busy worrying about Romney's bullshit proposals to kill Big Bird:
