Monday, February 23, 2009

Lasik.....I can see now!

Okay, so as you may know I had Lasik surgery this past Tuesday. I was sort of hesitant going in because of the fear of really not knowing what was going on. Once prepped, which included a few drops in each eye to deaden them, 2 ibuprofen and a Valium, about 15 minutes later they take me back to the surgery room. I have to lay on this table completely still which is virtually impossible for me because I am always shaking a foot or fidgeting or something (thus about every 10 seconds someone was saying "jennifer stop shaking your feet")
So, the doc comes in and starts it up. Since I told him in my pre-op exam I did NOT want the details of what he was doing to me, my imagination was in overdrive because of all the different sounds around me. He taped my eyelashes back on each eye and then stuck one of those retatractor things in my right eye to keep it open (they did one eye at a time) and began. Now all of a sudden I hear what sounds to be the equivalent of a Barbie sized skill saw and can vaguely see something coming at my eye, note I can't feel any of this. I found out later that he was cutting a "flap" in my eye....for what, you ask...I dunno, I guess that is the point in your eye the laser has to aim at.
So, I am told to focus on this red light, it will be my "focal point" throughout the whole thing and that the Doc will tell me when it should go out of view but it will come right back. Well, at one point this sucker goes out of view and I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING....all I can think is "I've gone blind, he has lasered off something that was important and I am blind...." about 2 seconds later there goes the red dot flashing away...so my mind was set to ease.
Then, he does the other eye. The whole process took about 4-5 minutes, literally!! I had to be there at 8am and was leaving by 8:45.
My cousin Christie works for this doc and was assisting with my surgery so I could hear her voice the whole time which made me feel 100% better!!! It was a bit nerve wracking.
Afterwards, I could immediately see but it was like I was looking through a total fog. Went home, took a nap for a few hours, woke up, fog was gone and can now see better than I have ever seen in my life! It was great and I would totally recommend it to anyone who is even considering it!!! It is strange however, to not have to put on my contacts or glasses seeing as how I have been totally dependent on them since the third grade, I was that blind!
I am recovering nicely and still using all my eye drops daily as I am supposed to and am totally happy!
I think everyone should do it! This is where I had it done, which by the way is one of only two doctors in town that my eye doctor will refer anyone to. North Columbus Eye. Check them out!

2 comments:

Beth said...

Okay, so I was nervous reading the entire post. I'm glad it turned out well and so relieved to hear that it didn't hurt. How's the first week of being glasses & contact free going?

I'm glad you were brave enough to take on the surgery.

Beth

Jennifer said...

It is WONDERFUL!!! I still go to put on my contacts every morning but I suppose that will slowly fade away...