No apology necessary.
I just had a retinal tear repaired. Had a big floater and went to the doc. You are probably already aware, for serious stuff one of the best eye hospitals in the world is in Philly.
https://www.willseye.org/
I went to Wills Eye Emergency a week ago early on a Sunday morning. I was cutting metal with a right angle grinder and a small, less than 1mm, piece went into my cornea. After two days of eye washing and rubbing my eyelid to no avail I decided to get it looked at.
The only thing that scared me (more than going into the Big City) was that the Doctor made Doogie Howser look like an old man. He was an MD though and he apparently knew what he was doing.
He numbed and dilated my eye and gently stabbed the metal out with the tip of a needle.
The dilation allowed him to look at my retina and to make sure I had nothing behind my eye. He did an eyelid flip and then firmly swabbed the underside of my eyelid and eye socket. Yee hawww ! That was the most uncomfortable part.
I was given antibiotic drops to use 4 times a day and artificial tears. I followed up with my regular ophthalmologist (a Wills Eye affiliate) last Thursday and all is well. I treat now for glaucoma and see her 4 times per year.
I still feel a slight itchy irritation but it feels worlds better than a week ago. Fortunately, here was no affect on my visual acuity.
Take care of your eyes Al, get the best doctors you can. As I once said to my regular doc, "Vision is not overrated."