Eye Surgery - Day 5

I drove myself to the eye doctor today.  The contacts were really dry this morning, so I have put in lots of Soothe eye drops, but they were still irritating.  I was SOOOOO ready to get them out.  I arrived early and only had to wait a couple of minutes to see Dr. Noz.  She numbed my eyes and then used a metal tool to remove the contacts.  Being a longtime contact wearer, I was a little nervous about the metal tool, but ... I knew that she knew what she was doing.  She did not want to pull the contact on my eye and risk damaging anything, so she slipped he tool under the top of the contact and folded it forward and removed it.  It was not too bad since my eyes were numbed.  I would not have wanted to try it without the numbing meds.  Just seeing the metal tool was enough discomfort.

My vision today is 20/40.  Not the 20/20 that I was hoping for today, but she assured me that it is just around the corner.  "By the end of the week, your vision will be much clearer," she said.  I have to admit that I was disappointed.  Although the clarity and sharpness improved when the contacts were removed, I was expecting more.  The miracle did not happen today, but I am patiently waiting for it.  I am ready to wake up and see clear, crisp images.  I know that that date is not too far off, so I am waiting and praying that the crystal clear image that I saw immediately following surgery last Thursday returns soon.

My cornea is still healing, so the blurriness and lack of clarity and 20/20 vision is because I am still healing.  I am using the steroid drops 4 times each day and taking my vitamin C and B complex religiously, so I know that the day will come.  Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, emails, and phone calls.  I really appreciate all of them more than you know.  Thanks for the continued prayers for healing.

I may be away from an internet connection for a few days, so I probably won't be able to update you until the end of the week, but I will do so when I can.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Eye Surgery - Day 4

My vision is better today.  Still blurry, but much improved.  No discomfort at all today.  I am looking forward to having the contacts removed tomorrow and to hopefully seeing really well.  Megan and I went shopping today, and although I could not see too far away from me, my eyes felt less tired today.  It was a great shopping trip, and I enjoyed getting out for a while.

My appointment is a 9:15 in the morning, so I will email an update afterwards.

Eye Surgery - Day 3

It is day three, and I am doing my best to type this amidst the great blur.  It is strange to type with your eyes closed or almost closed and not be able to review what you have typed on the screen because the blur is quite great today.  My eyes are slightly sensitive, but 100% better than before.  I am still doing the multitude of drops - some every hour, most 4 times a day.  The drops are getting easier and quicker to administer.  I have to wait 5 minutes between each drop (to allow the drop to seep into my eye and not have the follow-up drop flush out the first one), so it is not a fast process.  

I have not been in any pain, so I have never taken the pain meds, and I did sleep better last night.  I woke up a few times and put drops in, but I rested much better than I did the first night.  I am comfortable today, able to hold my eyes open without difficulty, but my vision is really blurry.  I try to focus, but it just tires out my eyes and doesn't help, so I have stopped trying.

The contacts that are protecting the raw surface of my eye as the surface layer of the cornea regenerates, are blurring my vision.  The cornea should be healed on Monday, and then the contacts will be removed by Dr. M.  I can't wait!

Eye Surgery - Day 2

The alarm went off, and I was exhausted.  I had to get up and get myself and the kids ready for school.  Blake had to drop the kids off and then take me to my doctor's appointment.  We got the kids delivered and were off to Blake's office to run a program and then off to my appointment.  My eyes were EXTREMELY sensitive to light, and it was all that I could do to hold them open, even though I was wearing tinted, "very fashionable" goggles, and darkly tinted, "equally as fashionable" sunglasses over the goggles.

We made it to Dr. M's office, and I saw Dr. Nov first.  As soon as she entered the room, I told her how sensitive my eyes were.  She put in some yellow numbing drops, and I was in heaven!  I could hold my eyes open without any effort at all.  I wanted to hug her.  She checked the protective contacts to make sure that they were still in place, and did a quick eye test.  I was reading really well.  She checked a few other things, Dr. M. came in to take a peek, and that was it.  He said that my vision, although quite clear at that moment, would probably get rather blurry this weekend.

Eventually the marvelous numbing drops that Dr. Nov had given me wore off and the light sensitivity returned, so I kept the goggles on and stayed away from the light for the remainder of the day.

Eye Surgery - Day 1

I went in this morning at 9:15am for my surface ablasion at Dr. M's office.  The process began with some paperwork, a valium, and then some tests.  The tests were soon followed by several eye drops and a surgical cap to cover my hair.  I was taken into the operating room where I rested comfortable on a reclined chair with lots of cushion.  On the ceiling above me was a large yellow smily face with the words, "If you can see this, SMILE!"  I could see it, but it was still blurry for me, as I had not had the procedure.  

Dr. Noz placed a few more drops in my eyes, an eye cover over my left eye, and then inserted an apparatus to hold my right eye open.  It pulled a bit, but nothing was painful at all.  Next, Dr. M. took a drimel type tool with what looked like a small electric sander piece on the end, and began to sand my eye.  Yes, that was a little freaky, but again, I felt nothing - not even pressure.  Then, he took a small spatula, like the little spatulas that you get with moisturizer sometimes, and cleaned off the surface of my eye.  Again, I could see it all, but I could not feel anything at all.

The laser was next.  He rotated my chair under the laser, realigned it, and then asked if I could see the blinking red light.  He explained, "All you have to do is watch the light.  That's it."  He moved we out from under the laser once again, made some adjustments, and then said, "Are you ready?"  I was very ready for all of this to be over with, although I was not anxious anymore, I just waned to be passed it.

The laser made popping noises and I could smell something like burned hair, but I felt no pain at all.  It lasted only seconds.  He swung my chair out from under the laser again and Dr. Nov flushed my eye with a cool solution, and I could see the smiley face on the ceiling crystal clear.  It was amazing.  A contact and another solution were placed in my eye to protect the raw surface, and the crystal clear image became blurry once again, but that was ok and completely normal.

The process was repeated for the left eye, and only minutes later, I was walking out into the waiting room to greet my mom and walk across the hall to the regular office.  Dr. Nov accompanied me, made sure that I was situated and did not have any more questions, and then Connie came in to give me all of the follow-up instructions.  All of the instructions were written down, and my mom was there to hear them, as well, which was great because there were a lot of instructions.  She reviewed 6 different eye drops with me and gave instructions for how to administer them and how frequently.  Then, she reviewed it all again as she put the eye drops in my eyes.  Again, I was completely comfortable and without pain.  Moments later, I was adorned with some very fashionable goggles, made my follow-up appointment for Friday, and we were out the door by 10:45am.  Wow! 

The ride home was a little rough on me.  I felt car sick because I had my eyes closed the entire time.  (Car sickness is not uncommon for me, so I was not worried.)  We went to PF Changs for lunch.  It was great!  Next, we were off to the pharmacy to pick up a new pain medication and the eye drops that the pharmacy had to special order for me, and then we were headed home.  I was instructed to eat, put in the drops and take a nap.  And nap I did.

When I awoke, I was good; still adjusting to the goggles and the sensitivity, but good.  My eyes were EXTREMELY sensitive to light, so I wanted to just be in the dark.  The remainder of the day was relatively uneventful.  I took my valium to help me sleep, but since I was not in pain, I skipped the pain meds.

I awoke in the middle of the night in a panic.  I could not open my left eye.  I tried as hard as I could to open it, but it would not open.  I breathed deep and tried to relax, but I began to panic.  I needed to open my eye to know that I could still see out of it.  I was so afraid that I could not.  I woke up Blake, he tried to help me, but he just did not understand my panic.  I eventually got a few drops in my eye and relaxed enough to fall back to sleep, only to awake a few hours later to find that I could not open my right eye.  My left eye was find now, and so I knew that my right eye would be fine, too.  No panic attack this time.  I managed to get back to sleep, but I did not sleep well.

Sorry if there are a lot of typos today.  My vision is really blurry this morning.

Young Life

A couple of weeks ago, Blake and I attended a Young Life Banquet at the Embassy Suites. It was a great evening. We had the opportunity to meet some members of the local Young Life team, to see some of the current high school Young Lifers, to learn about the history or Young Life and their goals for our area, to experience a bit of Club (the weekly Young Life meetings for area high school kids), and much more. That evening, Blake and I committed to support YL financially, and we indicated interested in becoming a part of the YL team. Tonight, we attended our first Committee. Committee is a group of couples who pray for YL, help raise funds, support the YL leaders working directly with the students, and more.

I have always volunteered at church - working with children's ministries primarily - but until recently, Blake and I have never served together. A few months ago, we became part of the Welcoming Team at our church and serve together twice each month. Welcoming commitee has been great, and I am enjoying serving alongside Blake, but becoming part of welcoming commitee was my idea. Blake had a great experience as a member of YL, and he is excited about the opportunity of becoming involved and about our kids being involved in YL. This really excites me because Blake has a real vested interest in YL. I am very excited to join him and to serve alongside him and other Christian couples. I have always wanted to find a way, a place for Blake and I to serve together. I am so thankful that we were invited to the YL Banquet, that we were able to attend, and that we have this phenomenal opportunity to glorify Christ through YL. Please pray along with us that our local YL group and Wild Life group (middle school) would continue to grow and impact the lives of the middle school and highschool students in our area.

Bye, Bye Glasses & Contacts

Well, I have been contemplating eye surgery for a bit, have visited some doctors, attended a couple of consultations, and today, found a doctor and a procedure that I feel comfortable with. So ... next Thursday, November 20th, Blake and I are having eye surgery. We will be having a surface ablasion. It is done with an excimer laser, just as LASIK is done, but it does not require us to have the flap cut from our cornea. The healing time is typically 3-4 days as the surface layer of the cornea repairs itself. The advantages, we don't have to have a surgical flap cut which may not heal properly, and we don't run the risk of potentional injury/damage if we get hit in the eye with an object, elbow, etc. after the surgery, as typical lasik patients do.

For those of you who see me regularly, I have been wearing my glasses for 10 days straight, and this is why. I have not been able to wear my contacts. In fact, I will never wear contacts again. Wow!

I have worn glasses or contacts since I was 17 years old. Granted, I did not have to wear my glasses all of the time at first, but by the time I was in college, around 20-21, I was needing to wear them all the time, so I switched to contacts. Since that time, I have primarily worn contacts every day. Although contacts, solutions, and cleaners have improved over the years, the contacts have really been bothersome for the past year or two, so I am SO EXCITED about my surgery next week. I can't wait to wake up and see without glasses or contacts. I can't wait to lay in bed and watch TV without having to worry about falling asleep in my contacts and without having the discomfort of my glasses digging into the side of my head. I won't have to prop up my pillow or push the glasses down on my nose so that I can see the TV without sitting completely up. I won't have to worry about my contacts when I go scuba diving or swimming. I won't have to wear my glasses and squint as I drive because I can't wear my sunglasses and/or try to wear my sunglasses over my regular glasses. This just keeps getting better and better. I am SO EXCITED about getting my eyes fixed! I can't wait for next Thursday!