July 14, 2008

• I once was blind....

  But I'll be able to see clearly on August 8!!!  Went today for my LASIK full evaluation and surgery is scheduled for Friday August 8.  I could have gone this Friday, but I leave on Saturday to go to church camp in Ohio, and didn't want to be out of state for my week post-op.  The operating room has a viewing room, so if you'd like to come down and watch them cut open my eye, you can!  Let's have a little party at the clinic.   

  So, the entire surgery will take 30 minutes.  It'll take a few minutes to create the corneal flap, then I have to sit for 10-15 minutes and let it full separate.  Then, I go to another room for the actual refractive surgery part and that will take 3.5 minutes per eye.  Amazing.  It'll be over so fast.  I'm a bit creeped out about the part that I'll be awake and able to see, but they tell me that I'll just be seeing a bright light...the laser.  So, hopefully it won't be too bad.  It's actually really cool how they do it.  I knew they used a laser to create the corneal flap, but I thought they sliced horizontally across the top of the eye.  But, they take a laser and shoot it vertically across the surface of the eye.  It goes down to a specified layer of the cornea and creates a tiny gas bubble.  It goes all over and makes these little bubbles, then the bubble become one giant space of gas in between two layers.  The sitting and waiting part allow the bubbles to get bigger and join together.  Then, they use a special tool to pull the top layers back.  A laser moves in the same way to reshape the cornea's lower layers that are still attached.  Then, the flap goes back over, is irrigated and smoothed across and I'm done!  I go home and have to sleep/keep my eyes closed for 6 hours.  Oh, and I'll have fun little shields that I have to tape over my eyes when I sleep so that I don't accidentally rub them.  No rubbing my eyes for 6 months, I have to take special vitamins and put in drops for the next 6 months as well. 

  I'm very much looking forward to all of this.  And, in the process I've found out that my prescription wasn't strong enough for my eyes.  They've worsened to -5.75 in the left and -5.77 in the right.  They were -5.25 in the left and -5.5 in the right.  And, my eye pressure is rising a bit, too.  It's up to 15 in the left and 16 in the right.  Still acceptable and normal, but that's something I watch closely with my family history. 

  Oh, and anyone who might be wanting this....my doctor does it free for 1 missionary a month.  He prefers it to be someone serving overseas, but I kind of snuck in there.  So, Erin and Tim and any of you other folk out there serving God overseas, just let me know if you want the contact info and I'll pass it on to you. 

  • 5:04 pm
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