Visit with Oculoplastic surgeon today may see me on the way to alleviating excess tearing in right eye

I have been plagued by excessive tearing in my right eye for more than a year; tears accumulate to the point that they sometimes flow out and down the side of my face or they drop on to my glasses so that I cannot really see having to look through a tear bubble.  last July I had Dr. Fassio perform a "procedure" that he said might solve the problem, but if it didn't I would have to have surgery.  Well, it didn't and I have procrastinated about contacting a surgeon. This contact was a direct result of me going to the BMT clinic on February 17th with a very noticeable bloody right eye.  Jamie, the PA that I saw, was so concerned that she had the receptionist make an appointment for me with Dr. Stacey Smith who I saw the following day.  She in turn had her receptionist make an appointment for me with Dr. Harris an Oculoplastic surgeon for March 3.  I had to postpone that appointment because of a very heavy snowstorm that hit that morning and put down so much snow that I could not open our garage door.  The earliest appointment I then could get was for this morning at 9:30.

Dr. Harris examined my eyes and said that I need the treatment on both eyes; he took pictures of both eyes and then described the surgery that he will perform.  He said the problem I have is that my lids do not fit close enough to the eyeball and that he will make small incisions at each corner of both the upper and lower lids and will pull the lids tight and sew the incisions with disolvable sutures.  This will have the effect of pulling the lids close to the tear ducts that direct flow down into the nostrils. He did not describe it as painless but it is an out-patient procedure and the discomfort will only last a day or so.  I am to keep ice on my eyes for a day or two and not engage in any strenuous activity.  He left arrangements for the surgery to his receptionist and she had to search for clinics that he can use and that will accept Humana patients.  So I am scheduled to go to the Utah Surgical Center on April 10; the time to be given to me by the Center during the previous day.  I am not to have anything to eat or drink after midnight on the day I go of the surgery.  I have been given a list of blood thinning products that I should stop using 2 weeks prior to surgery and for 2 days afterwards.  Chief among them the baby aspirin I take every morning and alcoholic beverages.. When this is over I may find that I am a teetotaler.

Emma accompanied me to the appointments with Dr. Smith and again today and will have to go on April 10 because they won't let me drive myself.  I also am supposed to have a responsible person with me at home for 24 hours.  I'm sure Emma qualifies.