My eyes lived up to all expectations today. Work went well, other than feeling lazy in general b/c I hadn't been in for a week. I rechecked with the doc and my vision is still 20/25. He was able to remove both bandage contacts and it feels great to have that part of the recovery over.
I don't think there is really much of a point in updating daily anymore. I plan on resuming my exercising and normal activities later this week if all still feels ok and I will update again if something changes and/or once I hit 20/20.
Was it worth the weekend of recovery? Yes. 110%.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Day 5
Today has been great. I drove for the first time since surgery and it was ok! I knew I was legally able to drive but I was curious to see how it really was. I did ok since I was going to places I was familiar with. I didn't have my usual "eagal eye" vision, so far off signs and directions would have been a bit frustrating if I didn't really know where I was going. But I did ok getting around.
I went shopping and felt a bit lost when trying to see a sign or something all the way across the store. That's definitely where I notice the loss of clarity the most right now. It's tolerable but I do hope that improves within a few weeks. (I'm confident it will)
Other than that, I felt really good today. Near the end of the day, I did notice that my reading of small type was a bit blurrier than earlier in the day. Maybe that's due to tired eyes or maybe due to dryer contacts-not sure. No pain today at all and really not all that put out by my less than perfect vision. I'm happy to learn that about myself.
I'm really looking forward to seeing my Doc tomorrow and getting my bandage contacts out?! I hope that happens. Tomorrow is also my first day back at work. These eyes have lots to live up to tomorrow-let's hope they can make it!
I went shopping and felt a bit lost when trying to see a sign or something all the way across the store. That's definitely where I notice the loss of clarity the most right now. It's tolerable but I do hope that improves within a few weeks. (I'm confident it will)
Other than that, I felt really good today. Near the end of the day, I did notice that my reading of small type was a bit blurrier than earlier in the day. Maybe that's due to tired eyes or maybe due to dryer contacts-not sure. No pain today at all and really not all that put out by my less than perfect vision. I'm happy to learn that about myself.
I'm really looking forward to seeing my Doc tomorrow and getting my bandage contacts out?! I hope that happens. Tomorrow is also my first day back at work. These eyes have lots to live up to tomorrow-let's hope they can make it!
Monday, July 11, 2011
PRK Day 3 and 4
Day 3:
I woke up with MUCH less pain and irritation than day 2 but my eyes still wanted to stay closed all the time. So I basically laid in bed and put in lubricating drops every 10-20 minutes. I did get lots of "listening" done. Finished my yearbook and caught up with some Magazines "on tape". I didn't have to use any pain meds which was great b/c I wasn't groggy or loopy. By the time it was lunch time, my eyes were being more and more tolerant of being open and by evening, I could hold a conversation without having my eyes closed! However, my vision was poor. It was the blurriest yet. I knew that was coming so I tried to take it in stride. I was so bored of sitting alone in a dark room that I made Reed watch his twins game in bed so I could listen to it-that is bored.
Day 4:
Woke up easily and could take a shower (yay!) Noticed my eyes seemed much less dry and had no problem holding them open at all. They are still light sensitive and when I try to focus on small writing too long, it gets blurry, but all in all, my vision is MUCH better than yesterday night. I went to the Doc this morning and he said I was healing well seeing 20/25 and 20/30. Also, I'm about 95% healed so I get to take out the bandage contacts on Wednesday when I see him again hopefully! No pain at all today. I'm so happy with my results so far and am confident if everything continues like this I'll be working on Wednesday. In fact, while typing this out (although it's a bit blurry) I haven't even needed to take a break to look away from the screen! I can't tell you how relieving it is to be feeling better today! I read about the magical "day 4 of recovery" on other blogs but I'm so glad I get to experience it. I'm going to try to take it easy so I get to keep recovering and not slip backwards.
Reed will surely be happy to hear that I can once again help with the kids. :)
I woke up with MUCH less pain and irritation than day 2 but my eyes still wanted to stay closed all the time. So I basically laid in bed and put in lubricating drops every 10-20 minutes. I did get lots of "listening" done. Finished my yearbook and caught up with some Magazines "on tape". I didn't have to use any pain meds which was great b/c I wasn't groggy or loopy. By the time it was lunch time, my eyes were being more and more tolerant of being open and by evening, I could hold a conversation without having my eyes closed! However, my vision was poor. It was the blurriest yet. I knew that was coming so I tried to take it in stride. I was so bored of sitting alone in a dark room that I made Reed watch his twins game in bed so I could listen to it-that is bored.
Day 4:
Woke up easily and could take a shower (yay!) Noticed my eyes seemed much less dry and had no problem holding them open at all. They are still light sensitive and when I try to focus on small writing too long, it gets blurry, but all in all, my vision is MUCH better than yesterday night. I went to the Doc this morning and he said I was healing well seeing 20/25 and 20/30. Also, I'm about 95% healed so I get to take out the bandage contacts on Wednesday when I see him again hopefully! No pain at all today. I'm so happy with my results so far and am confident if everything continues like this I'll be working on Wednesday. In fact, while typing this out (although it's a bit blurry) I haven't even needed to take a break to look away from the screen! I can't tell you how relieving it is to be feeling better today! I read about the magical "day 4 of recovery" on other blogs but I'm so glad I get to experience it. I'm going to try to take it easy so I get to keep recovering and not slip backwards.
Reed will surely be happy to hear that I can once again help with the kids. :)
Saturday, July 9, 2011
What's done is done
Day 1: Surgery.
I stayed up nearly all night Thursday night and worked out early am on Friday so I would be able to sleep a lot after my surgery. By the time I got to the doctor (8:00am) I was exhausted and terrified. After some doublechecks, reassuring words and a valium I was ready to go in.The Surgery: They laid me on my back and gave me a teddy bear to squeeze. They put numbing drops in my eyes and propped my eyes open. Next, they put a sponge soaked in medication on my eye. It didn't hurt. It looked like a white, glowing orb. They then removed the sponge and scraped off my epithelium. This was what I feared most, but it really wasn't that bad. I couldn't feel it at all. It seemed like they were just moving around in front of my eyes. With the outer layer gone, they told me to stare at the blinking amber light. Then they moved on to my other eye. Before I knew it, it was over. When I sat up, I could see the clock on the wall. Things were clear. I was dizzy from the pain meds, but Reed was there to get me home safely. I looked pretty sharp with the eye shields taped to my face and some nascar-inspired sunglasses wrapped around them (courtesy TLC vision center.) Once home, I took a long nap. My right eye had some irritation, but my left eye felt great. I slept on and off all day. Up for lunch, back to bed, up for the bathroom, back to bed, up for dinner, back to bed. Reed did everything. Including taking this dictation... And composing the portions regarding his own contributions.
Day 2: Recovery
I woke up unable to open my eyes. Following 20 minutes of eyedrops, I decided to change clothes with my eyes shut. I had a first day post-op to make it to. I helped get my kids ready with one eye shut (she really wasn't that much help.) The Doc said it all looked excellent and that I am seeing 20/50. Yesterday, before the operation I was seeing 20/300-20/400. I am to expect my vision will get worse before it gets better. The next few days should be the hardest. Today wasn't what I would call easy, but I think its going to be worth it. My eyes are in pain tonight. I am keeping them shut pretty much all the time. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
I stayed up nearly all night Thursday night and worked out early am on Friday so I would be able to sleep a lot after my surgery. By the time I got to the doctor (8:00am) I was exhausted and terrified. After some doublechecks, reassuring words and a valium I was ready to go in.The Surgery: They laid me on my back and gave me a teddy bear to squeeze. They put numbing drops in my eyes and propped my eyes open. Next, they put a sponge soaked in medication on my eye. It didn't hurt. It looked like a white, glowing orb. They then removed the sponge and scraped off my epithelium. This was what I feared most, but it really wasn't that bad. I couldn't feel it at all. It seemed like they were just moving around in front of my eyes. With the outer layer gone, they told me to stare at the blinking amber light. Then they moved on to my other eye. Before I knew it, it was over. When I sat up, I could see the clock on the wall. Things were clear. I was dizzy from the pain meds, but Reed was there to get me home safely. I looked pretty sharp with the eye shields taped to my face and some nascar-inspired sunglasses wrapped around them (courtesy TLC vision center.) Once home, I took a long nap. My right eye had some irritation, but my left eye felt great. I slept on and off all day. Up for lunch, back to bed, up for the bathroom, back to bed, up for dinner, back to bed. Reed did everything. Including taking this dictation... And composing the portions regarding his own contributions.
Day 2: Recovery
I woke up unable to open my eyes. Following 20 minutes of eyedrops, I decided to change clothes with my eyes shut. I had a first day post-op to make it to. I helped get my kids ready with one eye shut (she really wasn't that much help.) The Doc said it all looked excellent and that I am seeing 20/50. Yesterday, before the operation I was seeing 20/300-20/400. I am to expect my vision will get worse before it gets better. The next few days should be the hardest. Today wasn't what I would call easy, but I think its going to be worth it. My eyes are in pain tonight. I am keeping them shut pretty much all the time. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
The decision...
I work as an optician secularly so I have the advantage of having lots of eyeglasses and loads of experience with contacts. But, when the eye doctor that I work with mentioned that he was considering Lasik, I was instantly intrigued. I have always thought "I would totally have Lasik if I had a chance" but never thought I would actually have the chance.
Then, I found out that I could get quite a deal on the surgery and I started thinking about it seriously. So I went for a consultation.
I found out that I have nice thick corneas (never thought of that as a strength until now) but that they were somewhat irregularly shaped. Also, my eyes were somewhat dry so they told me to take a month more off of contacts, take fish oils, and come back. At my second appointment, my eyes were no longer dry however, they were still not symmetrical. And so, they recommended PRK. I had never heard of PRK (Photorefractive Keratectomy) before this and so I was skeptical. They explained that it's less invasive than Lasik but that the recovery time was more extensive and could be more uncomfortable. I have a feeling that "uncomfortable" is the "nice" way to say-"it really hurts". But after doing lots of research and reading what feels like a million blogs on the matter, I decided to procede. I have the assurance that my vision should be 20/20 and crisp with in a time line of at least 6 weeks. That may sound like a long time but I should be functional within 3 days to a week. For someone who has been in glasses since 2nd grade, a few weeks of functional, but somewhat blurry vision seems like an ok trade off. We Shall See (ha ha).
I just got finished reading and initialing all of the consent forms and that has kind of freaked me out. It of course tells you about all of the possible side effects which range from dry eyes to ... death. But what helped me look past this was the memory of the papers I signed when I had an epidural administered for the birth of my 2 children. It turned out to be a great decision and not only did I thoroughly enjoy the relief the drugs brought but I also thoroughly enjoy the children that it helped me give birth to. I hope that I look back on this decision to sign the documents with as much gratitude that I remember having for the anesthesiologist.
So there it is. I am having PRK done in 1 week. Friday, July 8th, 2011. I will update you as soon as I can bribe Reed to type for me on the 8th.
P.S. For those of you considering PRK: My prescription is about -4.25 with a very slight astigmatism in both eyes.
Then, I found out that I could get quite a deal on the surgery and I started thinking about it seriously. So I went for a consultation.
I found out that I have nice thick corneas (never thought of that as a strength until now) but that they were somewhat irregularly shaped. Also, my eyes were somewhat dry so they told me to take a month more off of contacts, take fish oils, and come back. At my second appointment, my eyes were no longer dry however, they were still not symmetrical. And so, they recommended PRK. I had never heard of PRK (Photorefractive Keratectomy) before this and so I was skeptical. They explained that it's less invasive than Lasik but that the recovery time was more extensive and could be more uncomfortable. I have a feeling that "uncomfortable" is the "nice" way to say-"it really hurts". But after doing lots of research and reading what feels like a million blogs on the matter, I decided to procede. I have the assurance that my vision should be 20/20 and crisp with in a time line of at least 6 weeks. That may sound like a long time but I should be functional within 3 days to a week. For someone who has been in glasses since 2nd grade, a few weeks of functional, but somewhat blurry vision seems like an ok trade off. We Shall See (ha ha).
I just got finished reading and initialing all of the consent forms and that has kind of freaked me out. It of course tells you about all of the possible side effects which range from dry eyes to ... death. But what helped me look past this was the memory of the papers I signed when I had an epidural administered for the birth of my 2 children. It turned out to be a great decision and not only did I thoroughly enjoy the relief the drugs brought but I also thoroughly enjoy the children that it helped me give birth to. I hope that I look back on this decision to sign the documents with as much gratitude that I remember having for the anesthesiologist.
So there it is. I am having PRK done in 1 week. Friday, July 8th, 2011. I will update you as soon as I can bribe Reed to type for me on the 8th.
P.S. For those of you considering PRK: My prescription is about -4.25 with a very slight astigmatism in both eyes.
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