Bright, Sunshiny Day

Everyone, sing it with me - "I can see clearly now, the retina is gone." Ok, not the retina, just the bad parts of it.

I can see! I can see!!

I'm like a kid in a candy shop.

Ok, so here's the scoop. You start the antibiotic drops the day before your surgery, every 4 hours. Friday, Scrummy picked me up and drove me to my appointment. You of course sit and wait for a bit. It's a surgery day so everyone in there is in for the same reason. This one woman came out after her surgery and I said, "So, is this the point where we get to ask you how it went?" However, I don't think she spoke any english so we didn't get a response. Either that or she was just ignoring me. Bitch. Then I started chatting with this woman next to me. She had it done in January and her husband was having it done that day. I said, "Did you just love it?" She said, "Actually, it was pretty traumatic for me. I was really anxious and should have taken the valium. blah blah blah" My first thought was - chick, not what I want to hear right now! My second thought - Ummm...they offer valium? Personally, I'd be more concerned about how I would react to valium since I've never had it, but that's just me.

About that time my name is called. It starts out doing the same stuff you did at the eval - they have one machine that gives a rough estimate of your prescription, then you do the whole "Is 1 better or 2 better?" lens thing. Then they use the wavefront machine which maps your entire eye. Then you sit and wait for a bit longer. Eventually you get called again and you head into the surgery room. You lay in this chair which actually has your head a bit below your feet. They cover one eye with a patch (Arrrrrrrrrr!) and then put numbing drops in your right eye. The assistant swings you under the laser to get you in position, molds the little pillow thing so your head doesn't move and then swings you back out to wait for the doc.

The doc comes in and you are swung back under the laser. The cool thing is he tells you every step of the way what he's doing and what's going on. They tape your upper eyelid and lower eyelid, then put in a separator which keeps you from blinking. A few more numbing drops and then they put this stabalizer on your eye. Things go black at that point. This is the only time you feel anything which is more sinus pressure than pain. You hear this sound which is them cutting the flap in your cornea and then you can fuzzily see the red light above you again. You keep focusing on that red light while the laser does its thing. Because I had wavefront lasik as opposed to regular lasik, the red light moves around a bit and you have to constantly focus on it. As things are blurry, you feel like you aren't really tracking, but you totally are. Plus the doc is there reminding you every step of the way to do so. The laser was about 25 seconds on my right eye. Then he puts some saline in which clears your vision, some more which blurs it, he closes the flap and you're done with that eye. The same process happens on the left eye, only the laser was 20 seconds on that one.

You pop back into another room, he checks your retinas, you're given your pack with sunglasses, anti-inflammatory drops, goggles for sleeping, wetting solution and your old glasses. Then you're on your merry way. I walked back into the waiting room and everyone looked up at me expectantly. I said, "It's a piece of cake." One of the guys said, "Thank you so much. I needed that." It really was. Scrummy picked me up and took me home. The first 4 hours after surgery they want you to keep your eyes closed as much as possible. I had them closed on the drive home. After I got home, I used the antibiotic drops and the anti-inflammatory drops, put the goggles on and took a nap. Woke up around 7:30pm ravenous. Of course had no food in the house so did some delivery. That night I "listened" to movies on the couch while keeping my eyes closed. Had to use the wetting drops twice. Went to bed that night and was totally paranoid about rubbing my eyes even with the goggles on, so I had my swimming mask on over. Yes, I'm a tool. Kept waking up because of it so didn't sleep that well.

The next morning it was like a whole new world. To be honest, it still hasn't sunk in yet. Everything is in focus. I could have driven myself to the follow-up visit, but my friends K and P picked me up and took me. Every 10 minutes I was like, "I can read that sign." or "I can see those leaves!". It's so amazing. I'm 20-15 in my left eye and 20-~18 in my right eye. Follow-up visit was great. Have to go back in a month. I keep using antibiotic and anti-inflammatory drops until they are gone (~7 days). Have to sleep with goggles for 10 days.

After they took me to my appt we headed to Redwood City to pick up the new Porsche that P is leasing. It's a 911 Carrera. Let me tell you the lines on the car bring a tear to anyone's eye. It is so beautiful. Then we headed back into the City for a late lunch. Sunday I played volleyball with my new eyes. The only annoyance was having to wear sport goggles for the next 3 months. Those things suck. Yesterday my client had the day off so I did too. K and I met at the spa and had a massage. We (K, P & I) then took their 4 month old Australian Shepherd puppy to Baker Beach and played at sunset. What a great way to finish off the weekend!

A lot of people complain about dry eyes or night halos or things like that. I haven't had to use my wetting drops since that first night. No halos. Sometimes a bit of pressure in the eyes, but I just close them for a bit and things are good.

This has been so worth it for me. I've worn glasses since I was in the 4th grade. Finally, after 20 years I can see clearly and don't need glasses or contacts. It's just incredible.

This moment of gushing was brought to you by the letter E and the number 20.