She handled everything as serenely as always, and her extended stay at the clinic while I was out of town did not bother her at all. I love that she is such a great blind horse ambassador. Also happily (for me), the eyeball was removed without rupturing and it is now in a jar, on my desk. It's bigger than I expected, but otherwise pretty much like you'd expect an eyeball to look like. I can't wait to freak out my nieces and nephews with it. And anyone else squeamish
I felt validated in my decision to remove the eye, and a smidge guilty for not doing it sooner, when the surgeon told me that Tag's resting heart rate pre-surgery was an elevated 40, and post-surgery has dropped back to a normal 30. So that is my best gauge so far of how much pain and stress she was having, poor baby. I can already tell she is feeling better. She'll be hand-walked for a few more days, mostly to keep her from rubbing the eye on anything outside that might pop the stitches out, and after that her life resumes as normal.
On a non-horsey note, when talking on the phone to a guy for the first time, having met online and been emailing, and he mentions having a hard time getting a pistol permit due to a prior arrest for assaulting a police officer, don't walk, run. Run and be glad you preserved your anonymity. I was rendered speechless, truly. I suppose it could have been a joke, but who would joke about that with someone during their first-ever conversation? Yikes. I'm going to be single forever.