I had to have a corneal tissue transplant a few weeks ago, and I'm just starting to see well enough to post again. I knew about the condition for a couple of years, but the need for surgery became urgent to prevent blindness.

It's actually a fairly routine surgery, but I was terrified because I'm generally surgery-phobic, and this particular procedure has to be done while you're awake. "AWAKE?? Are you shitting me?"

They knock you completely out with propofol so they can give you a big shot of Novocain behind your eye, then they wake you up and give you some Versed so they can talk to you while they make incisions, insert the transplant tissue, and make a couple of stitches.

All I can say is, Thank Buddha, baby Jesus, and Quetzalcoatl for Versed! My surgeon could have been a circus clown with a chain saw and it wouldn't have bothered me a bit.

The surgery (DSEK) seems to have been a success, and my vision in the repaired eye is getting better every;day!