27 April 2008

By request: LASIK

So, I get there, sign in, & get a name tag. We wait in the waiting room for about 20 minutes, I guess, before they call me back to sign all the consent forms and give them money. (I got a nice printout with "PAID IN FULL" across it...) Then I go back to the prep room, and Ben goes back to the waiting room.

I get a nice 0.5 mg Xanax, a round of medicated eyedrops, and a wiping of the eyes. Oh, and blue booties & a hair cap. Then I wait there, while the Xanax kicks in and the 2 guys who were there before me get their procedures. Ben tells me this was about an hour, but I wasn't paying much attention, being more focused on not flipping out. Then it was my turn.

I'm led into the laser suite, where I had to lie on a table with my head between these 2 huge-ass machines. They gave me a stuff bunny to hold, and good god I needed it.

Step 1 is to take a suction cup and put it on your cornea to hold it for the creation of the flap. The numbing drops made it not hurt, I suppose, but it was still uncomfortable, and I very nearly flipped my shit. The right eye was more traumatic than the left, because maybe the numb drops wore off faster? Dunno. Ben says they didn't show that part. The staff counted how many seconds remained, and I think these took about 30 seconds each.

Step 2, in comparison, was a breeze. The surgeon flips the flap up (eeew), and then a laser shines across your eye while you look at a blinking yellow light. Then when it's done, he puts the flap back down. The worst part of that is the slight smell of burning at the end. These took 40 seconds each. Then some more eye drops, and that was it. I didn't want to let go of the bunny.

The ride home, I had my eyes closed for. Light was really bright, even with the super-stylish shades they gave me. Ben drove through Taco Bell, I ate my bean burrito when we got home, and I went to lie down. They told me to take the Ambien they gave me, but I opted not to. The Xanax, Neurontin, and 3 ibuprofen I took after I got home let me sleep for about 5 hours.

Though I did take the Ambien before bed, because I doubted I'd be able to fall asleep on my own after sleeping half the afternoon.

Since then, my vision has been fine. I could almost read the 20/15 line at my last follow-up appointment. My eye doctor is supposed to call to schedule my 3-month follow up soon.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Are your eyes still doing well?
FYI Robin moved last weekend to Gaithersburg.
Mom