Today was a retina surgery kind of day. An interocular lens replacement kind of day. It was quite an ordeal. The anesthesiologist somehow managed not to anesthetize me and I was awake for the entire procedure which was supposed to take 1 and was at least twice as long.

They had me flat on my back, staring at some sort of curtain over me. And all I could see were these gelatinous shapes that kept changing color and form. And it was a struggle to breathe through my face mask and the curtain. And then my back started spasming. I was much more alert and awake then I normally am in my non-anesthesiatic life.

The doctors and nurses were chattering constantly. Sometimes one doctor giving the others instructions. And sometimes they were playing some sort of name-that-country geographic word game. What is the country south of Senegal? What is the country just east of Ecuador? Etc.

I also learned that my retinalogist was a serious hiker and mountain climber. He talked about trying to climb Mt. Rainier and failing at it. He seemed humbled.