Under the Knife: Retina Reattachment

The retina reattachment surgery of January 19:
The hospital did a prep session the previous Friday, including my first ever EKG. They determined, contrary to popular opinion on the street, that I do indeed have a heart. The surgery got green lighted with some reservation over a relatively new condition of elevated blood pressure.
The doctor was hesitant to go through with the surgery that morning, also due to the BP. The 10 mg Lisinopril had made only slight improvement. The decision to go on with it fell to me. My vision had decreased so much in the preceding months that I did not see much left to lose. The IV was already in place, pumping me with insulin and who knows what else. I was committed to do or die that day. They added a BP med to the IV cocktail
Because of the BP and the potential that this would be a longer procedure, they opted for total anesthesia rather than the "twilight" local.
I was surprised that they told me I could wear the johnny open in the front or the back, and that I could leave my shorts on. I had always thought there was supposed to be no outside clothing in the OR and that the johnny was always supposed to be open in the back.
Even when I could maintain any sleeping schedule, I Have never been a morning person, so I dozed while waiting, and I found myself annoyed that they woke me to tell me they were going to put me under. It seemed no different from the Moe Howard routine of slapping one of his sleeping partners and ordering, "wake up and go to sleep!"