So I had the other contact lens taken out Monday morning. Lately, I’ve had no discomfort in my eyes, as long as I keep up with the lubricating drops.
Vision in left eye better than the right, yadda yadda. It’s nice to wake up in the morning and see the alarm clock.
Friday was fairly uneventful. Marginal improvement in vision.
Saturday morning, I had another appointment go see if the right contact is ready to be taken out. It’s not quite there yet…the eye is about 98% healed. I could have had the contact taken out at the expense of some pain for the next day, and I chose to keep it in. I have another appointment on Monday. My vision is odd now. My left eye sees things better up close, but my right eye sees things better that are far away. However, this has shifted numerous times throughout the day, and I’m now back to seeing better with my left eye overall.
Driving, reading, and watching TV is a lot better now…I can see text fairly clearly, whether it be a road sign, a book, or the tv guide.
Went out with Heis, AnneMarie, Nicole, DJ and Appel at night….so boredom = cured (for now).
Beyond that…nothing exciting is going on with the eyes.
Day five was Wednesday, January 9th of 2008, and it was glorious. I only say that because it is the first day since Monday that I did not want to claw my eyes out. The light sensitivity and pain of the last two days was really starting to irk me, but today was pretty good. There still was some light sensitivity, but nowhere near as much as I had experienced in the last two days.
The biggest problem now has nothing to do with my eyesight or the recovery process. Instead, my main problem is boredom. My vision is not yet clear enough to read any books, or to sit on the computer. It’s not stable enough and the photo sensitivity isn’t mild enough to actually take a trip anywhere, although I did drive over to pick up my mail from the Doyne house.
There’s only so much guitar I can play without reading some new music. There’s only so much blurry TV I can watch….only so much I can sleep.
Today was day dix after surgery. My left eye seems to have pretty good vision, but my right eye is still blurry. I went into work today for a few hours to move my old office to my new cube. It actually kind of sucks right now. I have way too much stuff for that little cube. Currently, I have (from left to right): a stack of laptops, my primary desktop tower, my dual monitors, a network switch with my phone on top of it, my laptop, another monitor, and two more desktops that I have to setup for the new Springfield store. I unpacked all my paperwork, software disks, licensing information, backup tapes and a plethora of everything else, and tried to stuff it into the four drawers I had in that desk. Although this is only a temporary arrangement until the new suite is built out…it will be uncomfortable sitting there for a while. Additionally, the way my area is, it is 1. in a high traffic area. 2. all my screens are clearly visible. Goodbye Angeline Jolie walllpaper! For the most part, I don’t particularly mind, but then again….I don’t really want to make my work everybody else’s business.
I had another appointment today with the eye doctor. I drove out to Plymouth Meeting for the fifth time in the last week to get another check-up of my recovery. Dr Grey (or is it Gray…I again forgot to look. I thought it would be rather awkward for me to look at her nametag, which is conveniently [or unconveniently] placed directly over her breast. So Dr. G it is. Anyway…so I went in to see if the band-aid contacts can be removed.
She used a giant Q-tip looking apparatus to remove the contacts. As she removed the right contact, I felt pain. Her words right before were “itchiness and dryness is normal…pain is not”, so I was quick to point out the rather obvious dilemma. I quickly got some numbing drops. She took a look under the eye-scope thing-a-magigy and found that the epithelial layer is not completely healed. It was about 80% of the way, but not quite there yet. Under the contact lens, she couldn’t clearly see how far it had healed…so it was a shot in the dark trial and error method of finding out. She then removed the left eye contact lens, and there was no pain as that one was removed. I happily announced this fact as I reveled in my own awesomeness. She again took a look under the microscope eye looky thingy and saw that the cornea had regrown. She pointed out that the healing was like the seam of my jeans….the cornea’s epithelial layer had grown from the outside in, and formed a seam in the center. Wait a minute….why was she looking at my jeans…..there could be something there….except for the giant rock on her finger (yes, Tim…I checked).
The rest of the day was more boredom. I went ahead and organized my DVD collection out of said boredom. I then decided that I should pay Tim a visit, since I had gotten him the Orange Box for the 360. I stayed around and (hopefully) got him addicted to Portal. After that, I went to hockey practice. No, I did not actually suit up and play…but I made an appearance as team captain just as a figurehead, and so that I can give my input on drills and on setting new lines (since Flick quit the team).
I have another appointment scheduled for Saturday morning to see if the right contact can be removed. Oh wait…I forgot to mention….after having the right eye checked, she inserted another contact so that it can continue to heal. So barring any major problems or revelations, expect another update on Saturday.
I woke up today at around 9am with my eyes still being ultra sensitive to light. I picked up my blackberry, answered a couple of emails from work, and then decided that I would be better off with my eyes closed. I attempted to go back to sleep, but instead just laid there for a few hours on one side…since if I turned over to the other side, the sun was in my eyes through the window.On the bright side, my eyes were not as dry as yesterday, which leads me to believe that the dusty environment was as much to blame as anything else.
It was another beautiful day outside, unfortunately, one that I could not take full advantage of. Nothing new really to report…just more light sensitivity and dryness. It’s a bit better than yesterday though. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. I may try to head into work for a bit, since there is still stuff to move that I am responsible for, such as printers, plotters and the majority of my office (my new space should be ready by tomorrow, I’m assuming). I’m probably not going to spend much time there, since reading a computer screen is still a bit on the difficult side (albeit, much better: I can actually see the text).
I must say, day two was pretty uneventful. It was just a regular boring Sunday. I stayed home and watched some movies. Bas came over later and we went out to get some food. It felt good to be outside again, especially with the weather being so nice.
Day three I had to go into work. We were moving from Suite 200 in our building to Suite 102….so that meant that IT had to coordinate the move of all the computers, wireless access points, T1s and phone systems. It also meant that I had to be at work at 7:00am. this in itself was not so bad, had it not been for the “minor” side effects of PRK.
As I mentioned in the previous posts, PRK has a longer healing time and more painful recovery period. For the first wo days, I was quite content since I was experiencing none of that. Today, however, proved to be the day it all caught up with me. Right after waking up, my eyes were super sensitive to light. Even putting in eye drops, it was painful since I had to look up and into some kind of light source. Being outside was not too pleasant either. It was a lovely day, in the 60s, with the sun shining bright. Usually I’d be ecstatic to have that kind of day in the inter, but not today. Even with sunglasses on (polarized, UV protective), I still had to shield my eyes from the sun using alternate means like closing my eyes or using my hand, neither of which proved too useful. My eyes were dry, yet teary, red and burning.
I left work around 2:00pm to go to the eye doctor for my post-op appointment. My vision had returned enough that I was cleared to drive. My doc told me that my side effects were mild compared to some other PRK patients. His previous appointment had to have the lights turned out completely, even indoors, and still wore sunglasses because his eyes were so sensitive. I am not quite so bad…hell, I’m nowhere near that bad.
I was bad enough, however, that I had to cancel going to the Redrex men’s league hockey game with Tim. Usually I’d be there on the bench helping out, but today was NOT a good day to go anywhere. I instead decided to go to bed at a nice early 9:30pm.
Today completes my first full day after surgery. I had to sleep with protective eye covers that made me look like an alien to make sure I don’t rub my eyes at night, or right after I wake up. I didn’t really need them, but I’m not about to make a fuss about something so minor. The tape they gave me as an adhesive is pretty damned strong. Peeling it off this morning was a tad uncomfortable, but luckily I didn’t adhere it to any hair.
Upon waking up, I put more drops in my eyes, ate breakfast, and headed out to meet with Dr. Grey (or was it Gray…I can’t remember now) for my first follow-up appointment. I was there at 8:15am….and the follow-up basically consisted of her looking at my eyes to make sure there is no scarring, to make sure the contact is still on and a basic eye test. She said that I was doing very well. Most people come in on day one and their eyes are not fully open and they are experiencing some discomfort. I had none of that. She was quite pleasantly surprised that my eyes were fully wide open, had a healthy glisten to them, and that my vision was pretty decent. I am nowhere near 20/20 yet, but she said that my improvement is better than average for a PRK patient.
I am scheduled to appear again on Monday at 3:00pm for my second follow up, to see if I can be cleared to drive yet. I will be meeting with Dr. Bainbridge on that day. It’s really irrelevant to me who I see, personally, as both Dr Grey and Bainbridge are pretty cool people (I met with Dr Bainbridge the very first time I went to the center a month and a half ago for my iniital consultation).
The day was pretty uneventful. I took the drops as described in the first post. I noticed that the Zymar leaves an aweful taste in my mouth that lingers for about a half hour. I’ve been trying to hide the taste with plenty of orange juice and the occasional chocolate ice cream.
I again spent most of the day on the couch doing nothing. My vision isn’t great enough to do any web browsing or readin (I still can’t really see this text too clearly as I type it), but I did manage to watch some TV. I could tell what was basically going on, but if there was any in-movie text (like the translations subtitles), it was a bit difficult to read, but I was able to do it.
Still no discomfort, which is good. With the TV watching, my eyes were getting a bit dry because one does not blink as often when they are watching TV, but luckily I have plenty of lubricating drops.
I also noticed that vision in my left eye is improving at a faster pace than my right, and it’s pretty weird having my non-dominant eye be the better seeing of the two. It’s taking a bit getting used to….I can’t wait for my vision to stabilize.
Anyway, off to bed….there’s really nothing to do to keep myself occupied that wouldnt tire my eyes out..and having them closed is beneficial to healing. So adios!
I’m not supposed to be TECHNICALLY writing this (or be on the computer at all), but since I’m an apparent addict; Here we go.
Yesterday, I had my PRK surgery done. For those that don’t know, PRK is another form of laser eye surgery. PRK has been around longer than LASIK, but the popularity of LASIK comes from the quicker healing time versus PRK> However, many will still swear that better vision and better long term eye health is attained through PRK.
The main difference is, that in LASIK, the surgeon uses either a scalpel or a laser to basically cut through the cornea of your yee. It cuts enough so that they can lift up a flap of the cornea and allow the laser to reform your cornea. In PRK, they shave off the first layer (the epithelial) layer of your cornea. The epithelial layer, since it is completely shaven off, will regrow completely, but it takes about a week. With LASIK, the flap that was cut gets put right back on, and all it has to do is heal where it was cut.
The reason I was getting PRK rather than LASIK has to do with the thickness of my cornea. I was borderline for LASIK, and the doctors at TLC Vision center advised that PRK would be better for my long term eye health. Since LASIK cuts deeper into the cornea, there is the possibility for more complications if the patient’s cornea is thin like mine. With PRK…like I said, it regrows completely at the expense of the longer timeframe.
So January 4th, 2008 was my appointment. I was told that I would spend aout three or four hours at the center, so I was prepared to be bored. I arrived promptly at 10:00am. I would like to say that I was completely prepared for this, and not nervous at al…however I’d be lying. I woke up that day after about three hours of sleep. I was stuck at work doing a switch migration until 3:00am, so waking up at 8:00am after a restless night was not fun in the least. After waking up, there was that feeling of nervousness that accompanies any type of procedure where the doctor will fire a laser in your eye.
Upon arrival, I filled out all the waiver forms and signed my life away. In true shacker fashion, I made a final post on the shack from the waiting room and verified my nerd-dom to my boss at work. I was given a Xanax, but I have no idea what it was supposed to even do. I didn’t feel any different, any better or worse. It didnt matter, I had waited for so long for this damned procedure, I wasn’t about to back out now. The entire thing actually took a lot quicker than I expected. After going back and forth and settling the waivers and monetary considerations, an hour had already passed. I was then taken to the back and given the good old preparatory speech. I then had my doctor go over my tests, charts, waveforms and all that. Following his analysis, it was time. I spoke briefly with the doc about what was actually going to happen, what the healing time would be and what to expect. I then went into the laser room. When they tell you to wear a long sleeve shirt, they are not kidding. It was pretty cold in there, and I had a fleece on.
The procedure itself was fairly uneventful. The procedure for both eyes took about ten minutes total. The first thing they did was numb my eyes with a decent amount of dumbing drops. After that, they taped my eyelid up, and inserted some doohickey under the eyelid to make sure I don’t blink. Then the doctor took his tools and started scraping away at my eye. I did not feel a thing. After that, they centered the laser on my eye, and let it go to work. The laser then started pulsing and cutting away at my eye. I could smell the burning cornea as it did its work. Each eye took about 45 seconds of actual laser work. After that was done, they gave me a protective contact lens and sent me home. Total time there: two hours…better than expected.
After coming home, I spent the majority of the day sleeping. I called Misty on the way back because I promised I would, but was greeted with a voicemail prompt. I later found out there was a very good reason, but it’s irrelevant now. I told her everything went well and said I’d call back later. Like I said….I spent the majority of the day sleeping or with my eyes closed, but in no mood to really talk to anyone. After leaving, my vision was blurry. The doc said that it would take a while for it to stabilize and become sharp. It is rather annoying, however, having blurry vision (hell, I can’t even see this as I’m typing it), and not having any way to correct it. I just have to wait for it to heal on its own…bummer.
I was told there would be discomfort for the first few days. I would have slight pain in my eyes, have dry eyes, and perhaps have itchiness in my eyes. During the first day I experienced none of that. I was given various eye drops to take. One was Zymar, then there were some steroids, another drop called Alcon (or something similar…it’s basically tylenol for the eyes), and lubricating drops. The Zymar and steroids I am to take every two hours today, and the lubricating drops every hour. This is the pattern for the day of and day one. Afterwards, I will be taking the steroids and zymar four times a day until they remove the protective contact lens from my eyes. I have an appointment on Thursday for them to take a look at my healing and make that determination. The Alcon I have to take twice a day for the first two days…so tomorrow will by the end of that.
Anyway…so far so good.