This week is finally over!

My eyes are seeing pretty well now. I went to the eye doctor yesterday, and he said my eyes are healing nicely considering it's only been a week.

I've had no problems with my eyes and no discomfort. My vision is about 95% in focus. I can see most things, but some small details at a distance are still slightly blurry. Additionally, I've noticed my right eye is only slightly worse than my left eye.

So a week after my treatment, do I think it was worth it?

HELL YEAH!!

Considering I was not really "blind" before, my vision only needed "minor" corrections. So far, I'm very happy with the results. It's so nice not having to wear contacts all day long. Have them get dry, and then change into my glasses as soon as I got home. I guess it's also a few less things to have to travel with as well (e.g., glasses, contacts, solution, etc.)

Ok, I think this is it for the daily recovery log. I'm sure I'll mention things once in a while, but I think this daily log has become monotonous and reduntant. I think I mainly did it, so others that may be thinking of having the procedure done (Lasik or PRK) may be able to read about the entire process and recovery. I found reading about other people's personal recovery to be informative and somewhat comforting.

It's a breeze! Two thumbs up!

Labels: eyes, Lasik, prk, surgery

posted by jame1030 at 1:30 AM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post

My eyes ahve been doing really well over the past few days. So much so that I forgot to report on my progress.

I've been seeing really well with just a little blurriness and some halos around lights at night. Over the past couple days my eye bandages (contact) had started to become very dry later in the day (even after hydrating my eye all daylong).

So I called the eye doctor today and asked if I could take the contacts out. They said that it was fine if I remove the contacts. So I did. It seems as though the "zero" magnification contacts actually had some magnification because my vision has seemed to be slightly more blurry. My eyes are still healing. So I'm sure optimal vision is still down the road.

Today is my second full day of work. No problems working a full day or driving at night.

I'm back to the eye doctor tomorrow afternoon. We'll see what he has to say.

Labels: eyes, Lasik, prk, surgery

posted by jame1030 at 11:17 PM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post

So today is day 4 after my surgery, and everything is progressing nicely. My eyes are healing and continue to not sting (and tear)... thank God!

I took today off of work since yesterday was the first day that I had felt well. So today I took it easy and should be going back to work tomorrow...FINALLY!

I read some emails and spent some time online today. It didn't seem to bother my eyes. Today was the first time I was able to easily focus my eyes on the computer screen.

At this point I'm not really experiencing any eye problems. My eyes get a little dry - not too bad. My eyes feel like I'm wearing an old pair of contacts. My vision is only slightly blurred, and I feel like it may be drastically better when they remove my bandages (contacts). We shall see on Thursday.

Labels: eyes, Lasik, prk, surgery

posted by jame1030 at 10:54 PM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post

I woke up this morning, and my vision was alright. It wasn't super clear, but at least things weren't stinging (yet.)

I got ready for my follow-up appointment this morning - no problems yet.

I went outside to get the newspaper - HOLY BRIHGT LIGHT!

My eyes teared up a bit - but still not too bad.

As we drove to the doctor's office, my eyes were killing me. They stung and teared - extreme light sensitivity. Eyes closed the entire way to the appointment.

My eyes started to feel pretty good while in the waiting room. The doctor said I was healing nicely and that we would leep th ebandages (contacdts) in for a few more days. ANOTHER FOLLOW-UP APPOINTMENT!

By the tjime we left the doctor's office my eys were feeling pretty good. No stinging - no tears and minimal light sensitivity. So we went for Dim Sum - damn good stuff!

I managed to go to a few stores and did a bunch of stuff around the house (including decorating the house and setup a Christmas tree with no problem. My eyes haven't felt this good since before the surgery. But my vision is still not great.

I can see most things somewhat decently. I just can't make out any detail, and looking at a computer screen is somewhat blurry (so please excuse any types - I can't see!)

Overall a good day. No major bouts of stinging and tearing. (Thank God, that sucked yesterday. All freakin day I sat on the couch just patting the tears from my stinging eyes!)

I could possibly goto work tomorrow, but I'm not sure how productive I'd be. If I can drive myself to work and get in front of a computer, will I be able to work and concentrate on the screen? I don't think so. At this point, I'm thinking tomorrow will be another day off of work - thankfully my workload has somewhat lightened lately.

Labels: eyes, Lasik, prk, surgery

posted by jame1030 at 10:34 PM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post

Today I woke up pretty early and my vision was great. I could see my bedroom clock, the clock on the tv, and also the clock in the bathroom! Wow, this was amazing.

The joy of my new-found visionwas quickly turned into stinging pain and watery blurred vision. For the rest of the day my eyes have been stinging like crazy. I've spent most of the day on the couch with my eyes closed. I would try to open an eye to peek at the tv. There were several moments during the day where the stinging ceased. I even managed to go outside to check out the pouring rain.

I've continued with all the drops and meds, and I even popped a Hydrocodone to see if it would help with the stinging. It doesn't seem to have done much.

Hopefully tomorrow is a little bit better.

I get my bandages (contacts) taken off tomorrow, and then we'll hopefully go for some dim sum (if my eyes are ok).

At this point, I'm not sure if I'll be going back to work on Monday.

Labels: eyes, Lasik, prk, surgery

posted by jame1030 at 11:35 PM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post

I woke up and could see fairly well this morning. Things seemed to be clear and improving. No stinging - I was glad about that.

We quickly got ready and headed back to the eye doctor for a post-operative exam.

As soon as I ogt in the car, my eys started to sting like crazy and tear up. Yesterday was dark, cloudy, and rainey, but the small amount of outdoor light still bothered my eyes. I sat in the car with my eyes closed the entire way to my appointment. Luckily I knew that the stinging, tearing, and light sensitivity was very common after the surgery.

My exam went well, and they said there was no sighn of infection. Now I needed to go back on Suinday to remove the eye "bandage."

By the time I got to the eye doctgor, my eyes stopped tearing and stinging.

For the rest of the day I listgened to the television and several movies. I would keep my eyes closed and sneek a peek every once in a while. I fell asleep on the couch several times, and managed to check my work email several times.

The stinging would sporatically occur and would last for 15 minutes to an hour. Most of the afternoon I spent with my eyes partially or fully closed.

I'll be going to bed early tonight.
. . . . .

Labels: eyes, Lasik, prk, surgery

posted by jame1030 at 10:09 PM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post

So I finally did it! I had my eye surgery today.

The procedure was really quick and the entire office visit was only about an hour and a half long. The actual procedure took less than 10 minutes! It was a piece of cake.

They examined my eyes, and then proceeded to give me some post-op care instructions. I popped a valium and then waited for about 15 minutes.

They brought me into the surgery room. It was freezing. I'm glad I brought my coat.

I relaxed on the reclining chair, and they lowered it into a full horizontal position. An assistant covered my left eye with a rubber patch with many holes which made it mostly see-through. She flooded my eyes with a numbing solution. Then they put an adhesive strip over my top and bottom lashes and used a speculum to keep my eye lids open.

With the eye propped open, they flooded my eyes with some liquid drops and then put a round piece over my cornea. After wiping my eye and applying more solution, they switched the laser on and started some sort of countdown. Perhaps it was a countdown until the laser was ready. (I'm not really sure.)

They told me that they were ready for the laser and to keep staring at the red light. At this point my vision has been very blurry (and watery) at best. Once the laser started, you could hear some static bursts, and you semll a burning chemical smell. Within 15-20 seconds they were done with the laser and was flushing my eye with more liquid. They put a "bandage" on my cornea which turned out to be a zero power contact lens.

The other eye was repeated in the same manner and was equally quick, easy, and painfree.

Right after it was over, they raised me up, and I hopped up and could see pretty well. My eyes were feeling pretty good.

On the way home, the my eyes were very sensitive to light and started to tear up and sting a little (all normal). I kept my eyes closed most of the way home and took a 2 hour nap when I got home. It's been about 9 hours since the surgery, and everything is pretty good.

I can see fairly well. For the hell of it I tried on my old glasses. I guess my vision is much better than it was before because the glasses felt like "someone else's prescription."

The only problem I have now is that after taking that nap before I'm not really tired to go to bed. I can't really watch too much tv or be on the computer too long because the long periods of staring at both screens dries my eyes out and I have to keep putting drops in them. Besides, I probably should be watching tv or on the computer anyway. So what is there left to do except sleep. I'm not tired, but I'll probably try to go to bed early.

Hopefully my vision gets even better tomorrow...

Labels: eyes, Lasik, prk, surgery, vision

posted by jame1030 at 9:12 PM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post

So I finally committed to doing it.

I'm getting Lasik surgery to correct my vision.

I went for an exam and consultation last week and my surgery is scheduled for next week. I really didn't mind my contacts and glasses much, but we had leftover money in our flexible spending accounts. We gotta use it or lose it. So we better use it!

Now that the surgery date is set, I'm getting more excited about getting the surgery done.

My cornea is thin (and dry) and they think the two may be related. So they sent me home with a bunch of eye drops and hopefully that will do the trick.

On the day of my surgery (Thurs. 29th) they will examine my cornea thickness. If it is still too thin, then I will get PRK. Otherwise, I will get the traditional Lasik surgery.

Just in case you are wondering, read about PRK surgery here.

In doing my research about PRK,
I found this video



... A piece of cake. I'm not too worried about the surgery. I'm just hoping the recovery isn't too bad. Hopefully I'll be able to go back to work the following Monday.

Labels: eyes, prk, surgery

posted by jame1030 at 10:33 PM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post