Nothing to say! Things are going fine / great. Still some halo / glare at night and really really bright things like blue LEDs. My left eye still drifts but is doing much better. The doctor said the tears still look thin on that side so still no worries.
- RR
Things are still going well. I had my checkup yesterday. The doctor assured me that the fuzziness in my left eye is not as bad as I think. He did that by using a tiny blower to blow in my right eye and I saw what he meant - my left eye is still much drier than the left. He confirmed that when he examined them (before the explanation above).
Everything is on track. He said the corneal flap is all good. It is nice and secure and totally sealed up. I am now free to do anything not involving rubbing my eyes. So I finally shaved, and this weekend I will be in the hot tub on Easter.
On the subject of healing, he explained that my hypothesis regarding glares is/was correct. The glare is much much less now, almost normal. I am sure it would be better if my left eye weren't so dry.
Unfortunately, the clean bill of health came a little TOO soon... Kat's painting some of the house and now I can help. So after I hit 'save' I have to go spackle. Of course, I am making her do all the sanding - getting the tiniest bit of drywall and/or spackle in my eye just isn't high on my list of things to do!
FYI - If anyone wants to comment, feel free. Just comment to the first post ever unless answering/commenting on a specific entry.
- RR
Nothing new really. Everything went fine today at work (aside from the decreased productivity with everyone asking me how it went). Was able to work the whole time OK (but again, I have an LCD, and don't need to sit in front of the PC all day). Had a seeing contest with a co-worker and the lucky bastard was about the same as me (for free - d@#n genetics!).
No new pains. Still some burning with one of my drops. My left eye is slightly fuzzier still.
I don't think I will update this daily anymore unless there is (a) something new or (b) I have a check-up (next is Thursday).
- RR
Woke up this morning and all was fine. Pretty much the same as yesterday. Again I am still a little worried that my left eye is fuzzy compared to the right. I felt OK most of the day. I was able to play games on my desktop. However, I still have trouble with all text (black on bright white background is/was too much). But that didn't matter for the games, which is what I do 90% on the desktop anyway.
- RR
Nothing really to report. Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I woke up this morning and my eyes would open fine. That was good. Most of the itch is gone - I REALLY have to remind myself to use the rewetting drops. The bad part is that my left eye is still fuzzier than the right. I don't know if it is a glare thing or the prescription level is worse than before. The papers they gave me say they can drift in and out and it is normal - but it has been a day straight being the same. I won't worry to much about it, yet. Otherwise, I was able to go out this morning and wearing a brimmed hat and my sunglasses I trimmed the hedges until about noon. The sun had shifted and I was no longer in the shade - that was too much so there are now clippings all over the front yard.
I was able to use the desktop for about 10 minutes. It was uncomfortable but not undoable. Considering doing the 14 day 'rental' at Best Buy of an LCD panel.
- RR
Just got back a little early. Our hostess had to kick us out because she has some kind of qualification examination at 0800. Anyway, I sure am glad that Kat drove us home. I never would have been able to make it out of Baltimore. Everything seems clear enough (no contrast problems like some people have experienced). However any direct light source looks like it is extremely misty outside. The really bright stuff (yellow turn signals from behind cars, oncoming headlights) was actually physically painful. I'm sure that will go away soon enough, it has been only two days! But sitting around in good company and decent lighting to watch a movie was perfectly fine, even tho I had to take a break and do some drops.
- RR
Well, I woke up this morning thinking somebody was robbing the house. Not really related to my eyes, except that when I awoke to the sounds I couldn't open my eyes. They were so dry and gooey that I seriously couldn't open them. I kept them closed for a few minutes trying to wiggle them to produce tears. Eventually I was able to open them up. (BTW, nobody was in my house who wasn't supposed to be!)
I decided not to go to work. My right eye is still being troublesome. It feels like I have a dry contact lens. In fact I don't really believe my vision yet because my brain is being fooled into thinking that I am wearing an uncomfortable contact all the time. I can now use the laptop for up to an hour. At work I am lucky enough to have a 20 inch LCD so I know it would not be as troublesome/painful as a CRT. However, being able to work for about an hour and then needing to rest for a half hour seems kinda useless to me. So I figure one more day since it is Friday and then hopefully all will be good by Monday.
Thankfully the drops don't burn any more at all. I still need the lubricating drops, especially my right eye. It is the itchiest, but the weird part is that my right eye feels dried out, but the left eye is the one that has the most fuzziness.
I'm doing OK it seems. Gonna go over to some friends' tonite to watch some movies. Hopefully I won't have too many problems. I'll have my stupid goggles tho.
It doesn't fit anywhere else in this story so figured I would just mention that I now get some tears in my eyes if I have a nice big yawn. But very little lubrication otherwise. Also, if you are reading this trying to consider to do it or not, don't worry - this is all standard side effects, that supposedly can last 3-6 months. I think I'm doing great for two days out!
- RR
Day 2 - 10 Apr
I woke up and the haze is still there. Nowhere near as much thankfully. My eyes don't burn or anything, only when I put in the medicine (4x daily). My right eye seems to be the worse - it is more hazy and I have a burst blood vessel there. No that is not painful at all. I had my first followup this morning. I was able to drive myself (thankfully since Kat had to work). It didn't really hit me until I was on the highway - I could read the street signs way down the road perfectly fine (well, if I blinked a few times to wet my eyes good)!!!
I don't know what it is about the operation - if it is the methods or the medicine - but a very common side effect is that it seems like it is always dry. The 'dry contact lens' feeling. That's why the sunglasses/goggles are needed - because you will instinctually go poking your eye because it itches.
Anyway, I go in for my checkup. The doctor looked very closely along the surface of my eye with a bright light that reminded me of sticking my face in the photocopier. He said that the flap looked great - no wrinkles or edge peeling at all. He said it looks a little dry but wet enough - actually very good for a one day later. He said he has seen 1 week followups being drier than my eyes. I was a little worried on the eye chart. I had to blink a few times to have my right eye read the bottom line. The left eye was able to do it OK. With both I was good. It was after the eye test that he told me I was doing great - the line that I read with no problem was 20/15! I asked him about the sunglasses 24 hours - it's hard to see the TV! He confided in me that it is more for fingers than UV (indoors at least!) so if I wanted to wear the goofy 'sleep' goggles around the house that would be OK. I am nowhere near as light sensitive as I was yesterday. I cannot use my desktop with a CRT monitor, but the laptop's less-illumination TFT backlit display is acceptable in 5-10 minute bouts. So that's where I am typing this. Watching my NetFlix DVDs and playing FFT all day... Since I have a LCD at work, I may go in tomorrow. Or I may just take a long weekend and rest my eyes a bit longer.
- RR
Day 1 - 9 Apr 03 (Typed 10 Apr 03)
Well, yesterday I took the LASIK plunge. Figured I would put my experiences here for all the world to see.
First off, a little background. I'm 26, and have had glasses since about 12. They were only a -3.00 (I dunno what that is in 20/xx). But I was sick of them. I did a LOT of homework and decided to give it a try. I consider myself a very lucky person ('cept when I go to AC,NJ), so I played my odds.
I'm also a total 'fraidy cat' when it comes to anything medical. Bad experience in my younger years with appendicitis complications. Anyway, let's just say I nearly passed out trying to give blood.
So the day came along and my GF (Kat) came along to be my drive home. I got there about 1300. They checked me in, and I paid the dues ($2800 for those who care).
They brought me into a room where they laser scanned my corneas (again) to get the topology. (They did this before in the pre-eval.) This was the cool tech part. They took the data and put it into a smart card (one for each eye) to be loaded into the machine later on. Then they brought me to the next room to triple check my prescription (-3 in both eyes).
Now a break to wait for the start. Sitting around with Kat and getting all worried. No caffeine either for the day! Either way, some nervousness made me want to go to the restroom. After I came back, I spotted something I _really_ didn't want to see. Kat asks me - why do I look even more nervous than I was before? No joke - I swear that I told her this - "I'm even more scared - it is running Windows!!!" Yes, walking back from the restroom I saw a screen on the laser unit and it had the Win95/NT4 interface !
Shortly after, they brought me in and laid me down under the laser. They covered my unused eye and taped back my eyellids. Then they put the device in to keep my eyelids open (forget the name - they use it in torture scenes in movies and TV shows like Alias). Next is where they are gonna take the slice off the cornea - the device puts so much pressure on your eye that it fades to grey then black. Then the doc said to hold on a second and to look at the red flashing light. At that point I saw light again but it was like looking thru a shower door or something. Then I heard clicking. They had warned me that I might smell burning hair - damned if it didn't stink absolutely horribly immediately! There is nothing like smelling your own burning flesh! Ack!!!
Let me interrupt by saying I was scared. They told me right before it NOT to hold my breath, so I didn't. I breathed. And breathed and breathed and began to hyperventilate. They told me to slow down. All the while, there is clicking, the smell of burnt flesh, and the voice of a female assistant in the background like a Sci-Fi landing sequence counting down "30 seconds... 25 seconds..." My mouth was dry from breathing so hard. Then they said it was done. They flipped back the flap, and did something like painted it on. They got ready to do the second eye, I nearly chickened out and said "Some other time!" The staff was extremely considerate and gave me about a minute to compose myself. Then pretty much everything was the same for the second run.
When I got out, I was SCARED. They had said things would look hazy, like a smoky room. They were NOT kidding. The only thing I can describe it as is it looked like I had a VERY dirty contact, or the contact had a matte finish on it. Which is the truth - the surface behind the flap and the flap were no longer in full contact. Kat came up to me and said, "Don't ever ask me what I just saw on that video screen" - she later told me that it was very disconcerting to see the front of my eyeball sliced off. She also said it was interesting that behind the cut was a matte finish.
They had given me an Excedrin PM (I thought the "special" ingredient in Excedrin was caffeine which they banned me from!) right before I started all of the topographical mapping, so I was starting to get tired now. Which is good, they wanted me to go home and sleep for 2-4 hours. I won't bore the reader with all the eyedrops involved before and after all this. But they gave me a pair of sunglasses that they said I need to wear 24 hours a day for 2 or 3 days. They also gave me this weird plastic eye shield to wear to bed so I don't rub my eyes in my sleep. I put that goofy contraption on (I am wearing it now as I type this on day 2) and hit the sack. I woke up about 3 hours later, and looked around. From my bed, I could see the individual hangers in the closet! They were hazy. Fuzzy - NOT blurry. If I had looked that way without glasses before, it would have been a big blob. Now they were there but hazy. Every light source seemed to blind me - I was told to expect this for up to 3 months. So I put on the sunglasses, called some friends and family to let them know I wasn't totally blind, and then went downstairs and watched some TV. And played some Final Fantasy Tactics. The TV is OK - it is far enough from the couch apparently.
I went to bed with my goofy goggle things and so ends day 1. Our poor cat Freya is stuck outside the bedroom for the first time since we adopted her.
- RR
Happiness is twin floppies.
