Thursday, February 18, 2010

Hmm, my hearing could use a tweak maybe...

Today was the big day. I got up at 6:15am, showered & dressed, let my mom into the house, woke Adam up for breakfast and then put him back to bed again. Grabbed a bagel and Aaron and I headed out the door to TLC Eye Clinic for my date with a laser at 7am.
They mercifully gave me 1/2 of a Valium right off the bat, but I'm not sure how much it helped, since the surgeon still seemed a little frustrated by my refusal to open my eyes wide enough. First they put a wire-springy thing on to keep my lids open - it seemed a little like an eyelash curler. As I stared at a circle of lights above, they put some kind of suction on my eyes which made my vision go black. It took about 10 seconds for each eye.Then it was over.
After resting in a cozy recliner for about 20 minutes, my knight in shining armor was there to whisk me away. At least, I hoped it was Aaron - I would have walked out the door with any guy wearing the same coat. Immediately after we got home, I prepared for a long nap by putting on the very sexy goggles that I'll be wearing while sleeping for the next week. With the room completely dark, and oh yeah! the two Tylenol PM's I took ...the next thing I remember is Aaron waking me up and telling me it was time to wake up. Because it was 12:45 and I'd been sleeping for over four hours. I highly recommend THAT part.
Aaron had a Culver's burger waiting for me, which meant more than just a good lunch - I am definitely the Culver's fan in the family. He even brought me a bag of chips AND a Pepsi. At that point, I felt a bit like an invalid, so it was sure nice not to have to stumble around on my own. By the way, while I was having this cosmetic (according to the insurance companies!) procedure done, he also took Leah to school, took out the garbage, loaded up all the kids to get Leah at school and let them play outside for a bit. This may not sound like much (after all, I do it every day!) but he's not used to it, and it is HIS day off, after all. Anyway, thanks honey! I really appreciated it, and could relax knowing you had everything under control.

After just a bit things cleared up and I started the hourly regimen of a variety of eye drops. By dinner time I was seeing at least as well as I had while wearing glasses, but it's expected that my vision will continue to improve for the next couple of months.
Leah refused to look at my eyes, and here's why:

I guess the blood spots (from the suction) freak her out a bit. It does look a little gross, I have to admit. Also, to get this photo I had to take it in the mirror with the flash off - couldn't keep my darn eyes open for the flash. I've always been pretty light sensitive (like, at movies when a dark scene suddenly switches to a bright one, I can't look at the screen and my eyes water), which maybe I should have warned the surgeon about beforehand.

Aaron is a bit jealous, since he didn't get quite the solid nap after his surgery that I did, and so suffered more. I have a check up appointment tomorrow right after dropping Leah off for school, and then another in a week, and then in a month.

But dude, that nap was worth it.

And the seeing without assistance is pretty great too.

5 comments:

Noel said...

Is it considered surgery even when there is no incision?

I don't think I could go through the procedure and the eyedrops. On the other hand, this week I completed one gold dental crown and started a second. While that didn't earn me a nap, I did get out of presenting in a teleconference due to a numb mouth.

Lyz said...

Oh, but there IS an incision! A laser cuts a flap on your eye, another laser (somehow!) fixes your eye, and then they flip that flap back over your eye. Eyedrops are antibiotic - one of them, anyway.

Dental stuff is another issue for me. Get out of obligations whenever possible!

BlueCastle said...

Your eyes are a little bit freaky looking. I'm impressed with the 4-hour nap. That sounds awesome. What a great dad too, to give up his day off for you. :)

I sometimes think about getting Lasik, but there's just something about someone using a laser on my eyes. Kind of creeps me out.

Melissa said...

I am SO jealous!! I have wanted LASIK for years.... But the only time I haven't been pregnant or breastfeeding has been when my husband was out of the country. (I cant find a doctor who will do it while I'm breastfeeding, but I'm still searching!)

Hope you enjoy life wihout glasses a d contacts.

Lyz said...

BlueCastle - Yeah, it freaks me out, too, but I just decided to stick to it. My eyes look worse today, actually!

Mel - Not sure why docs would refuse because of breastfeeding? Doc here didn't really have any objections. The drugs involved are pretty minimal and no traces have been found in breastmilk samples. The whole process (including nap) was about 6 hours, so that would be the only factor. Good luck on coordinating all your life conditions!:)