I read it somewhere on the Internet...
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| The Medieval Bestseller I read it somewhere on the Internet... |
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Thursday, January 22, 2004
Ok, so I'm blogging from home again. Presently, my dad and Terrence are in the living room watching the Laker game, which I couldn't care less about (sorry Steph & Terrence). I can see great!! 20/20, even!!!! Here's how it went. Dad drove me to Dr. Smith's place in Encino and we arrived shortly before 5:30 p.m., my revised arrival time. We sat around for an hour or so (thank goodness I brought my knitting!) and then Dr. Smith arrived and there was some joking about us being from the same family and stuff and then the nurse took me in and had me lie on the table and take a picture of my eyeball so that they could line up the laser with it later. At this point, I was not nervous at all--perfectly calm and very interested in what she was doing. Then she dialated my eyes and sent me back into the waiting room and gave me a vallium. I was able to knit for a few minutes, but soon was unable to clearly see enough to knit. I don't know how long I waited with my eyes dialated for...maybe 1/2 an hour? All I know is that I get very impatient when my eyes are dialated because I soon run out of things to do. Larry King interviewing some country singer was only so interesting to me, ya know? Then Dr. Smith (or maybe it was the nurse again) called me into a normal eye room and put some numbing drops in my eye and looked at them with a bright light and then I was ushered into the LASIK room. Dr. Smith drew on my eyeballs (which I didn't like, but made me laugh, so maybe that's one more area of my body where I'm ticklish) and then I laid down on the table; that's when I got SUPER nervous. They aligned me with the flashing red dot and explained all of the components and stuff. Then they started taping my eyelids down which wasn't great and then they inserted this plastic thing to hold my eyeball--this is the part that was VERY uncomfortable and I didn't like it at all. In fact, I reached up to have them stop, and they sorta had to hold my hands down. It was very...well, it really made me wonder why I was doing this. Once that thing was secure, he drew on my eyeball again, which I really didn't like and it didn't make me laugh. At this point, I really wish I would have asked for two or maybe even three vallium because this whole procedure (although explained every step of the way) was not kosher with me. Then they got to the point where they sawed my cornea open, which wasn't pleasant, but it was nothing like the stupid eyeball holder thing. Then the laser goes, which is actually the most pleasant part of the process, and then the flip the flap back over and straighten it and then they remove the horrible eyeball holder and eyelid tape and then that eye's finished. They did the same thing with my left eye (the whole eyeball holder wasn't as awful as it was on the right eye, but it was still pretty awful). Then they sent me into the same eye room and had me close my eyes for 15 minutes or so in the dark, which was all I wanted to do because they hurt and when my eyes were open and my vision was all cloudy. Both my eye doctor, Dr. Shuham and Dr. Smith, the surgeon, came in and examined my cornea with the bright light and told me it looked great and they gave me some drops and instructions to go home and sleep, and that was that. Dad drove me home, and I had my eyes closed the whole time because they hurt so bad (well, and because I was told to do that). I got home, put my drops in and my Kareem Abdul Jabar eyeshields on and went to bed. I was awake for awhile (at least two hours, I figure) with my eyes closed. I would say the pain I was in was akin to having shampoo in your eyes (you know that burning sensation?). Whenever the wind would blow (it was windy last night), I would think to myself, "Concentrate on listening to the wind to help take your mind off of the pain." After awhile, though, I managed to fall asleep. I awoke briefly at 12 midnight and then again at 2 a.m. At 2, I figured since I was awake, I'd put more drops in (the more drops you put in, the better off you are) and I noticed that, although it was quite dark in my room, I could see very clearly. My eyes also didn't hurt at that time. I woke up feeling fine with crystal-clear vision that hasn't fluctuated at all today. Heather drove me to my eye appointment in the morning and I sat down in the chair and could immediately read the 20/20 line and could partly see the 20/15 line. Not too shabby! All in all, I hated the surgery and the immediate aftermath. However, today I think that the surgery is WELL worth it (I don't feel any scratchiness or anything AND my vision is like how it was when I wore my contacts) and would probably do it again (although the plastic eyeholder thing makes me shudder...). - Jenny, 1/22/2004 08:28:00 PM |
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