get my eyes fixed

I are scared!

I can see! I had LASIK yesterday, and a number of things I was worried about happening didn’t happen… the world didn’t end, I didn’t go blind, sneezing didn’t make my eyeballs fall out… Okay, I didn’t really think that, although it did cross my mind.

What happened is, I can now see better without my glasses than I’ve been able to see with them for the past several years! I can now lean my head on my fiance’s shoulder when we watch a movie together, and see my opponent when sparring in full gear.

The procedure was pretty quick, and nearly painless. I say nearly, because having my eyes wired open was far more uncomfortable than I had been led to believe. Yes, my eyes were numbed with drops, but having the wires put in was still stingy and weird, and since I had never been told about this part, I freaked out!

The doctor told me everything was fine, and asked me to be quiet because I was being distracting… Yeah, I’m a big chicken, but I hear a lot of people are, so I thnk I should warn them: The first part of the procedure is scary and stingy! But, it is the most uncomfortable part of the whole thing, it can’t hurt you at all, and it’s over pretty quickly.

The next part was creepy, but not painful. They put a little buzzing thing over my eye, and I could feel the tissue being removed and pulled back. That freaked me out. Then the eye being worked on went dark, and that freaked me out, too. They told me to count to ten, and I did. By the time I got to ten, the darkness was gone. There was a red light that I had to stare at while the lazers rat-a-tat-tatted over my head, then a ring of light, and then it was over and I could see! Amazing!

Yesterday I could not get online to post this because my eyes were too tired, and after looking at writing for five seconds, everything went blurry. Today I can be on the computer, but I have to limit my activity. I am taking three kinds of eye-drops – two of them, four times a day, and the other kind as needed (about once every half hour. Yesterday I was instructed to take them every ten minutes.)

I was worried that I would scratch my eyes unconciously, but this has not happened. The drops work very well, and most of the time I have them in before my eyes can start iching.

I was also afraid I would move during surgery. Well, everyone has the chance that they may move, and the doctor told me that this is nothing to worry about. If you accidentally move your eye or your head a little, the laser movies with you. At one point I was told to be very still. The rest of the time I couldn’t help bu be pretty still. The surgery is a little scary, but not so bad! _{Oh, and the valium helped…}

This was very worth it!

I’ll kind of miss them, but not really.

I had an appointment today, and was recommended lasik surgery for my particular problem. I spoke with a couple of other people there who had the procedure, and there was a woman in the waiting room talking about it to a man, and I listened in. Everything I heard, plus my recent research into the matter, put me at ease – and I’m a high strung, easy-to-stress-out person.

My fiance, on the other hand, was told his vision was too good for any type of correction. Poor boy only has 20/20 vision now, instead of superman x-ray vision like he presumably had when he was my age.

So anyway… three weeks! I’m excited, and a little scared. Luckily, I’ve read about how any side effects can be corrected. I have no doubt that I am in very professional hands. The people I went to were great.

Oh, and I got my eyes dialated, so I have this creepy super-sensitive night vision right now, as opposed to my regular night blindness. It’s kind of cool, because I’m not used to being able to see in the dark, and kind of annoying, because I can’t sleep without my comfortable darkness!

I read there are things safer than lasik now. I am looking up different options. In the long run, the cost is made up for by how many pairs of glasses I no longer have to buy.

The plus side:

I can be more active without having to worry about my glasses falling off of my face.

I can wear my head protection in karate class AND see.

Eventually I can fence again, and be able to see through my fencing mask.

I can lay my head on my boyfriend’s shoulder while we watch a movie at home, and still be able to see the movie!

I can see all the balls when shooting billiards! I won’t have to push my glasses up on my forehead to do a long shot.

I really hate wearing glasses, or maybe just cleaning them, so this is something I want to do.

I have had no complications. Just make sure you go to a good doctor like I did!

my surgery is booked for january 8th – yay! lasik!

Made a couple calls about this one. The beurocratic tape is thick. I hate the way heath care is managed.

My mom said I can use some of my (early) inheritance money for this.
I’m so happy. I gotta make my consultation appointment.