Cat losing an eye?

My cat turns out to have some sort of respitory disease that caused a infection in his eye, i believe the vet said it was a viral disease but we arent sure, he still needs much more tests dont to find out specifically what it was that got him sick like this. but me and my fiancee were talking to the doctor aboutt he best method for his eye because she said there is no saving it and it has to be removed but im still hoping that there is a chance for it to heal so i was going to get more opinions , right now i am at work and wondering if anyone knows what the dangers of surgically removing his eye are. my fiancee seems to think she said some vessels can burst but i wasnt sure thats what she said, the doctor said that he can wait it out and let the eye die itself but thats VERY painful but my fiancee is sceptic because we dont want our cat to die if the surgery goes bad, does anyone know if things can really go that bad if we choose the surgery, or is there a chance it could heal?