An update on the eyes and other things

So I thought today would be a good day for a Blog update. It has been 10 days since my PRK laser eye surgery and I just got back from the eye doctor. Apparently there are 2 kinds of patients when it comes to PRK. The type that completely heal in 7-10 days, also known as the ones I despise and want to kick and the ones like me that can take 6-8 weeks to heal up. So that means another 4-6 weeks of not so great vision for me. I was assured though it will get better, good thing since right now my vision isn’t good enough to be considered legal to drive at night. It has been a bit frustrating but I have to tell you after talking to Dr. Grey today I felt a little better about the fact that things are still fuzzy and hazy. She had the same surgery that I did and it took her about 6 weeks to heal completely. Still it is a bit frustrating and it makes doing homework, and working a bit more of a challenge and the headaches are not all that fun. So for anyone reading this considering getting PRK done make sure you know there is a chance you could fall into the group that takes weeks if not months to completely heal. There will be good days and bad days. The last 2 days have been good ones for me, as far as the fact that I am seeing the best I have since the surgery but for some reason on Sunday it was one of the worst days I had, so it will fluxuate.

Aside from that I came out of my house this morning to find my car had been vandalized and robbed. Not a great way to start the day. If I wasn’t going to be out of town this weekend I would be cleaning out my side of the garage to get my car in it. Hopefully mom will at least get started on it so the following weekend we can finish it up.

I did manage to get ½ of my homework for this week completed which is a good thing. Now I just need to get the rest finished up by Thursday. This semester is not going as smoothly as my first two this summer but I am not overly concerned at this point. I will just do my best to get things completed on time. I will have to take some work with me when I go to Maine this weekend but I don’t want to fall behind so it is a necessary evil.

I hope I am able to see well enough to take all the picture I want to take while I am in Maine this coming weekend. Thank goodness for auto focus cause there is no way I could manually focus a camera with my eyes like this. Hmm that reminds me I need to get my submission for the art show sent in. I will post the ones I end up submitting in a blog later this week.

1 week later

So it has been a week since my eye surgery and my vision is not as good as I thought it would be by now. My vision is very hazy and I am hoping that it is temporary and that it will clear up soon. I still don’t know if I will be glasses free or if I will still need them once my eyes stabilize. I am hoping for the being glasses free option. My right eye is still the weaker of the 2 eyes and I am really hoping it starts to get clearer, and the fact that both eyes are considerable worse than they were yesterday is a bit concerning. I really hope by next Friday my eyes are clearer before my drive to Maine.

Last night I left the house for the first time in a week to go some place other than the eye doctor, granted it was just to go to class but it was nice to be out of the house and driving again. I probably should not have been driving but I made it to school and home safe and sound. Tonight I start another class so I will get to venture out again. I am looking forward to this new class even though it is a Friday/Saturday class but it is only for 3 weekends. I am just glad to be starting to get back into the land of the living. I have been working from home for the last few days but the not being able to leave the house thing is getting old.

PRK laser surgery or Alien abduction

So I had my PRK laser surgery last Friday at Kremer laser eye center and here I am at day 7 and still can't see that great and am second guessing the whole thing but I just need to give it a bit more time. Hopefully things will get better soon...

So the actual process felt a little bit like I imagine an alien abduction and eye probe would feel like but hey I survived... So there I was in a slightly darkened room, reclined back in what felt uncomfortably like a dentist chair, with bright lights above me and a masked individual telling me to relax. Before I knew it my eyes were being pried open with a contraption that would prevent me from blinking. Then I was told to stare into the light and they put some sort of drops in my eyes that felt like acid burning them and then I was quickly given more numbing drops so the stinging would stop. Then I was told to stare at the light again and the popping of the laser started. My vision faded out and when it was done they were flushed with water, really cold water. Both eyes were done in less than 10 minutes. It was weird walking around without my glasses and not being able to see anything. I kept wanting to put my glasses on.

For the more technical look at the procedure here is what PRK essentially is. PRK is very specific wavelength of far-ultraviolet light energy which will literally vaporize fractional layers of human cells, leaving an incredibly smooth undamaged tissue surface.. When you arrive for the surgery your eye is prepared with a cleansing solution to help guard against infection. Anesthetic drops, to fully numb your eye, are added to assure your total comfort while they vaporize those cell layers off your eyeballs (I needed some extra of those drops because when they started putting other drops in my eyes they both felt like they had been dipped in acid and it really stung for a few minutes. No needles are utilized which is a very good thing since I am not a big fan of needles. Then during the procedure you are asked to look at a light and hold your eye still. See kind of still sounds like an alien abduction and eye probe to me.

Now the entire procedure takes only a few minutes. The actual laser application takes 15 to 60 seconds per eye to complete. You are then released by the aliens from their mother ship, which is oddly shaped like an office building, about an hour later.

So I returned home and promptly went upstairs to rest my freshly lasered eyes.
Day 1- The day of Surgery Friday was lots of resting and pain medication. Everything was very blurry and I was in a bit of pain. I had on my protective contact bandages and tinted goggles; hmm I thought the point of this surgery was to get rid of eye wear not to have to wear extra...

Day 2 Saturday the vision was a little better but I still could not see well enough to read or even watch TV so there was a lot of lying around listening to music and such. The pain was still pretty bad, and I was beginning to rethink the whole thing. I was still really light sensitive so the goggles or a pair of sunglasses stayed on all day.

Day 3 Sunday was the worst day pain and vision wise. Then add to that the discovery of the small pond in the basement from the hot water heater that was leaking and it was just not a fun day. I could not see well enough to turn the gas off to it and I also could not see well enough to be sure I had actually turned the water off. My mom was out running errands and I could not track her down so I call my grandmother who came over and helped me make sure the water was turned off and then helped me clean up the minor flooding we had. Once mom got home I went upstairs to lie down since my eyes felt like they were on fire and everything was so blurry I could only just barely make out shapes.

Day 4 Monday- no vision improvement but the pain was slightly less. I didn't rest my eyes as much as I probably should have since we had the hot water heater being replaced. I still could not read at all or see well enough to get online; eyes were still really light sensitive. I was starting to get really frustrated and depressed that I could not see and was not really able to do anything of value, or entertaining. I was really bored too since I could not even see well enough to watch TV.

Day 5 Tuesday. Vision in the left eye had slightly improved but the right eye was still not any better. I had a check up with the eye doctor and the contact lens bandages were removed. My eyes felt a little scratchy but I was glad to have them out. My eyes were really light sensitive still and I probably over did things a little in the afternoon trying to read to get my homework done for the week. I finished my weekly assignment but still had my paper to do.

Day 6 - Wednesday Left eye had slightly improved but right eye was still not improving. Still light sensitive and still not even close to being able to drive. Again I pushed it and was working from home during the day and online all day, and had to write my paper for class. I had such a terrible headache and was not able to see well enough by late afternoon to keep going so I sent in my paper as was and will just have to do what I can to make sure my next one is better and that I do well on my mid term and final. I am rethinking the whole timing of this surgery. I really hope it doesn't impact my grades too much. I might lose my 4.0 GPA but as long as I get at least a 'B' I will be happy.

Day 7 - Thursday today. Wow what a difference a night can make. I can see 10 times better than yesterday. Vision is still not great but I think I can probably drive myself to class tonight. Everything has a general blurry haze at all distances. Eyes are still light sensitive, and it is still difficult to read and the left eye is at least 3 times clearer than the right which is so odd since it was the left eye I was concerned about due to the scar tissue I had in that eye. But since I can see some and I promised to blog about this I decided to get an update posted.. I have envy for those people that get to have the Lasik surgery and walk out of the office being able to see. So unfair…

I am taking a much needed break from some technology…

Okay so what does that really mean? I will be “offline” from Friday to probably the following Monday, maybe longer depending how the eyes heal after surgery. I am having my PRK laser surgery done Friday and will not be “online” for a few days while my eyes heal. I am actually looking forward to the forced break. I work on a computer all day, my classes at school require at least some online work, I have 2 blogs, a myspace page, a facebook page, at least 5 active email addresses, and I have various chat programs, (Google Talk, AIM, MSN, and Yahoo). Plus I use the internet all the time for various different things like shopping, research, etc.. It is just so over whelming to keep up with it all. So now I will get the break if only for a few days while I recover. I will also not be driving, reading, working, or watching TV, but if I get bored I might listen to it. LOL Really I am hoping to at least get some real resting done, and get caught up on a little sleep at least, since I will have a lot to get caught up on once I am online again and able to drive again and head back to work. As soon as I am back online I promise an update on the eye surgery here on the blog.

Hmm a life without glasses?????

Well I would first like to thank all those that have picked out their favorite pictures from below. I think I heard from about 20 people in total, ½ on here and ½ that emailed me their favorites. I will be narrowing down my entries this weekend. I really appreciate all of your support.

Not much new is happening here. I have decided to go ahead and get laser eyes surgery done. I can’t go with the traditional kind where you can actually see the next day. I have thin corneas (Figures the one thin thing about me is the one thing you really don’t want to have be thin.) So this means I will be getting PRK done so I will not be able to see for about a week and it will take a month before it is completely healed. For those that are not familiar with PRK it basically means they burn the top layer of your cornea (the epithelium) off with a laser, then use the laser to reshape the cornea, the stick a protective lens over the cornea for a few days while the epithelium starts to grow back. Sounds painful and from what I hear it will be for a few days. Plus it means very blurry vision for about a week, and several weeks before the vision is stabilized while the removed layer of the cornea grows back. But I should be able to see well enough to drive and get back to my normal routine about a week after surgery. I promise to blog about it after I get it done. I am still working out the scheduling of it since I will need to take a week off from work while I recover.

Hopefully I will be seeing well enough 2 weeks after for my already planned road trip to Maine for my grandmother's 80th birthday..