Software, Software Development and other Atrocities

Note: this story beats the I cut my finger story I wrote last year.

A month ago I had an eye operation. It was the first time and hopefully the last one too. Here I'm gonna relate you, briefly, all the incidents that happened that day and the days after. But first, I have to say that if you are under 15 you have to be accompanied by an adult to read this blog. :)

The reason for having this surgery was a pterygium in my right eye that was bothering me for over a year. I thought of having this done in Lima with laser. But being so far I decided to go to the NHS here in Britain. As usual I first went to my GP who, to my surprise, referred me immediately to an eye doctor. This eye doctor referred me again to another eye doctor expert in the frontal part of the eye. This last doctor said I could have the operation and it would be ambulatory (sort of like going to the dentist!). He booked me for the 3rd of September and asked me if I wanted general or local anesthetic. I said general of course!

On the 3rd of September Rodrigo and I got to the reception of the Eye Hospital and I was kindly received by a nice group of nurses. One of them was worried that I didn't speak English. Hehehe I said don't worry. A second nurse asked me if I could have local instead of general anesthetic. I asked why. She said because it is safer, and "our big lift isn't working so we cannot take you to the operating theater". (Bullsh....!) She said it was going to be quicker and would be able to go home in a few hours. I accepted.

The nurse walked us to a big room where I was assigned a bed. I changed to a white gown... and waited. In the mean time nurses came many times to offer us tea and biscuits, of course Rodrigo was delighted. When the time of the operation came a nurse came to collect me. We took the lift (????) and got into a sort of reception room of the operating room. There I met a nice nurse (he was rather camp!) He explained what was going to happen and told me jokes and made me relax. Then the anesthetist came and gave two injections very close to the eye. Looked scary but they weren't painful. Just a tiny prick. After 10 mins my eye went numb. The same feeling you have when you get an anesthetic at the dentist. I couldn't open my eye. In fact half of my face felt like a huge water melon. They took me into the operating room and put things to cover my face. The doctor put a metallic thing to open my eye and began to operate. You may be wondering if I could see. And the answer is YES. Although everything was blurred I could tell the doctor and nurses from the ceiling. I could see the needles, the scissors and other thingies... and I could hear the noises they made. The operation lasted about one hour. My neck went stiff and was hurting... Basically what the doctor did was remove the pterygium, then take a piece of tissue from another part of the eye to cover the hole left by the pterygium. When he finished he put bandage lens to cover my eye (like a contact lens but bigger and rectangular) and a patch on my eye. He gave instructions to the nurse to remove the patch in 1hr. I was taken to another room to recover. One hour later I walked and took the lift to the room, where my bed was.

Rodrigo was there waiting for me :) I felt numb but Ok. No pain yet. I laid on the bed and fell asleep for 20 mins. Rodrigo took a picture of me. Then I woke up and sat on a chair. Rodrigo took pictures of me. The nurse came to remove the patch... that was scary. Rodrigo couldn't take any picture :P. The nurse took the patch off my eye and asked me to open my eye!!!! Of course I couldn't. That is the weirdest sensation ever. It was awful. I opened my eye and I saw double. I could feel the bandage lens, and my eye began to water. The nurse gave me 3 drops and said I should use them every 2 hrs! Except at night time..... And if I felt pain I should have paracetamol. Rodrigo then took me home and gave me food :D I was really hungry and eating distracted my attention from my eye to my stomach. I went to bed and fell asleep.
I woke up at 02:30 with a lot of pain in the eye... I went to the living room, took 2 paracetamol and waited. I walked around the furniture for 3 hours. The pain didn't go. I sat in the sofa and thankfully I fell asleep for 1 hour. Woke up again with pain. This whole loop of trying to sleep, walking around things and pain lasted the whole day to the extent that Rodrigo had to ring the hospital. They gave me another appointment for 17:00.
We went to the hospital and saw another doctor.... well... Rodrigo saw him because I couldn't. I had my eyes closed. My right eye had been hurting and watering the whole day. And the doctor says "please open your eye" hehehehehe I tried but couldn't. I tried harder and I think I could open it a bit but not enough. So the doctor takes some magic drops and gave me one. In a second or two the pain disappeared!!! Why did the doctor not give me those drops instead of freaking paracetamol!!!!!!

Anyway I was afraid that my eye was infected but it wasn't. It was healing Ok according to the doctor. I asked him if he could give me stronger painkillers and he said well, you don't want ulcers, do you? ahhhhhhhhhhh

Well, those drops stopped the pain for the rest of the day and night. Next day I had no pain, just some discomfort in the eye, which lasted a few more days, until the doctor removed the bandage lens a week after.

I must say this: I was impressed by the service in the Eye Hospital and NHS. The nurses and doctors are first class.

What about software? hmmm... everytime I've been to the eye clinic (not the eye hospital) to see the doctor for check ups, the receptionist enters my name in the computer then she asks me my address and she says ok, go to the waiting room, blah blah, .... When I leave I go to the receptionist I give her the instructions from my doctor, she enters something in the computer and then she takes a yellow paper and writes the date for my next appointment.
Also, they had these TV/Internet screens by each bed. They had a metallic arm which allowed you to move the screen where you wanted. Only thing was that you needed your credit card to use it. :-/