I can see you now!

I got to the doctor's office Thursday morning around 9:30 AM. I put antiobiotic drops in both my eyes and am then taken back into a little waiting area with about 10 other people. We're all given our post-op instructions, little baggies with sunglasses, night goggles, lots of single-use preservative free eye drops, and a stress ball from Bausch & Lomb. Then we all got to take one valium. We had to let it dissolve under our tongue though ... and that was pretty gross. And annoying considering I didn't even notice a difference? I've never had valium before - but I assume I should have noticed a difference? We're told that right after the surgery - we should go home and sleep for 4-5 hours. I'm wondering how I'm going to do that - because I'm not tired at all. And I have soooo much to do. But I figure hey - we'll see how I'm feeling.

Anyway ... then we all put on hair covers and our eyes get washed. Then we all donate our glasses to the Lions Club (they match up deserving people with the donated glasses! I love that!). One by one we're called back into the surgical area. I'm about 5th in my group - they call my name and I realize it's either now or never!

I lay down and scoot up until my eyes are in the right position for the equipment. There are about 5 people in the room. Drops are put into my eyes to numb them, and then my doctor puts little metal "tongs" to hold my eyes open; this isn't too uncomfortable - probably because my eyes are numb and I basically just have a sensation of something around my eyes. Then they tell me they're going to apply suction for a few moments and that everything will go black.

It's a good thing they tell you this beforehand - because it is pretty freaky when everything does indeed go black. Your eyes are wide open - but you see absolutely nothing. At this point I was kind of lightly squeezing my stress ball - and thinking maybe one or two more valium might have been a good idea. Finally - they release the suction and all is well with the world. Then they put what feels like round circles in your eyes. I was really paying attention - trying to remember every little thing they did - and I even realized when they made the flap over my cornea. I saw him flip it back. It was pretty cool.

Starting with my right eye - he tells me to look at the red light. Then I hear them turn on the laser - and they do 25 seconds on the right eye. I hear them counting down. I also smell the burning of my cornea. That was a bit disconcerting - but not so bad because I knew what it was. (They don't tell you this - but I worked in surgery for several years and well remember the smell of burning flesh. I assume you would realize that is what the smell is though? Even if you hadn't ever smelled it before?) Staring at the red light was kinda hard as well -- it seemed to be moving around. I'm sure it wasn't ... but they were BURNING MY CORNEA - so I'm sure that was affecting how I was seeing it.

They turn the laser off ... and then spend atleast a minute or two washing my eye with a saline/steriod/antiobiotic solution. This feels pretty good. Then they flip the flap back down - and things look a bit clearer. I was feeling kinda tired at this point. Maybe the valium was finally kicking in?? My doctor then asks me how long I've worn contacts ... I said atleast 15 years until two weeks ago when I stopped wearing them for the surgery. He said he could tell - that's why my corneas were bleeding more than usual. He upped my steroid drops for the first day to every two hours. I wonder if they might should lengthen the glasses-wearing period for long-time contact wearers?

Then he moves to my left eye ... tey do the same thing on my left eye - only that eye only gets 15 seconds of the laser (which makes sense - my right eye was way worse than my left eye). When they finish up with that - they take off the metal clips holding my eyes open - and have me sit up. Here's where the coolness starts.

Immediately after sitting up - I can see the posters on the opposite wall. The posters that were blurry blobs just minutes before. It's kind of like looking at them underwater ... but I can see them. It's freaky.

At this point, I've been back in the surgical area for about 7 minutes. Maybe less.

I go out, and they immediately do some tests to make sure the flap is looking right. Then they slap some goggles on me - and hand me over to my husband. I must look like some type of alien - red eyes and big goggles covering half my face. I feel like I'm looking at everything through Saran Wrap. And I feel totally out of it and I understand why the waiting room is soooo dark. My eyes are SUPER-SENSITIVE to light. Steve and I get out to the car ... and I just close my eyes and try to block them from the sun until we get home. I walk in the front door - walk straight to the bedroom and crawl under the covers. That whole not wanting to sleep for 5 hours ... not a problem. It's all I wanted to do. I wanted to be a dark dark room and sleep. My eyes felt like they were burning. Not all the time ... just ... on and off. So I slept ... for about 4.5 hours. In the fun goggles that you're supposed to sleep in for a week.

When I woke up - I felt 200% better. My eyes felt better. I took off the goggles and took my first look in the mirror to see what they looked like. They look totally normal. A bit red and puffy - but that's to be expected.

Then a cool thing happened. I looked from the bathroom across the bedroom - and I COULD SEE THE ALARM CLOCK - as in ... THE NUMBERS on the alarm clock. It was GREAT! And this is basically 5 hours post op!

Now starts the heinous medicated drop schedule. I have antiobiotic drops, steroid drops, anti-inflammatory drops, and of course - preservative free lubricant drops. Four times a day for all the drops. The lubricant is basically once an hour. I finished the anti-inflammatory drops on Saturday. I only have to do the antibiotic drops until the end of this week. The steroids go on for a month though. I'll still be dropping in 2005! Woohooo! I have a nice little chart that I can check off when I do each drop - to make sure I don't miss any. They say it is SUPER important to adhere to the drop schedule ... it helps in how well your eyes heal.

Other considerations. You can't take a shower for 48 hours. No water on your face - nowhere near your eyes. I took baths for two days - and Steve helped me wash my hair. But no water came near my eyes. And ... You can't wear eye makeup for a week. This is a bit frustrating for me ... I feel like I look so washed out. But .. everyone knows I've had LASIK - so who cares.

The day after surgery, I had my first post-op appointment. Everyone on my group of 10 from the day before was there. They could have done a commercial of all of us in the waiting room talking about what it was like to be able to see. One man was in his mid 60's - had worn glasses for 50 years. He was talking about being able to see the birds in the sky. Signs on the side of the road. It really is just amazing. Everyone in my group had positive results. We all still have the sensation of something being in our eyes ... and I don't want to look at any bright lights ... but we can all see.

They do a quick eye-exam -and my left eye is already at 20/15. My right eye is still catching up ... but will get better and better as time goes by. Together - my eyes are 20/20.

Twenty four hours after surgery ... and I have 20/20 vision. It's still a bit saran-wrappy - but is getting better every day!