Lasik and other things

Wow! I can’t believe how long it’s been since my last post. Pre-lasik surgery and all! The summer has already come and gone, and I already feel behind heading into the beautiful fall season. Which, by the way, I am heralding in with open arms. I am sooooo tired of this ridiculously hot weather. Noob Baby has been dying to get out on the playground and terrorize the doggies and young folk, but the 90+ weather is holding us back. So, we just lounge around inside the house sucking on popsicles and shoot the shit.

Is it already time to think about Halloween costumes?? I mean, I already had my slutty [insert any profession here] costume planned, but what’s Noob Baby going to be??? Well, as I sit here thinking about candy corn and pumpkin spice lattes, I am staring at my laptop through 20/15 and 20/25 eyes. In layman’s terms, near perfect vision! In my left eye, I have superhuman vision: 20/15. So excuse me while I picture you naked….

….

And in my right eye, well it’s not quite 20/20 yet. I’ve been told to give it a month or two to see if my eyes equalize. If not, I can consider doing a Lasik touch-up to try and achieve 20/20 vision in my right eye. Hey, I wouldn’t mind being full superhuman … then all I need is a cape for Halloween.

So here’s a little breakdown of how the Lasik surgery went:

Pre-surgery

You have to go in for a few pre-surgery exams and consultations where your eyes are checked thoroughly. Lots and lots of: Is 1 better or 2? 2 or 1? You also have to wear your glasses for a week during this time (no contacts!) so that the shape of your corneas neutralize. On the day of the surgery, you are given a final check up to make sure all systems are go.

About 15 minutes prior to surgery, you’re given a happy pill – Xanax – to help you relax. Weeeeee!

Surgery

The actual surgery time is very brief… about 15-20 minutes. You’re told to stare at some flashing lights as the doctor places a contraption over your eyes that keeps yours eyes open during the lasering. The “eye opener” was quite uncomfortable, but nothing unbearable. The actual laser is like a hot stinging sensation … to the point of uncomfortable… but again, not unbearable especially since it’s over so quickly. Almost immediately after the surgery, I could see better than without my glasses! I could see faces rather than just foggy blobs.

Post Surgery

After the surgery, you’re given a final quickie exam. Then one last Xanax so you cah sleep for the rest of the day. Make sure you bring a designated driver with you (who, by the way, won’t judge you when you have dorky plastic eye covers taped to your face). I barely had enough time to scarf down a sandwich before my eyes were stinging A LOT (like cutting onions, or no, putting onions directly on your corneas). Luckily, the little happy pills work in a blink.

The next morning, I leaned over to check what time it was as I heard Noob Baby babbling on the baby monitor. And voila! I could see the clock clearly – 6:30! Miracle! I was able to see almost perfectly, although I had some discomfort in my right eye, think an eyelash in your eye. That discomfort went away within a week. During the following week of recovery, you are given two types of drops to put in your eyes (steriod and antibiotic). You also have to use eye drops every couple of hours as you will notice more dry eye than normal.

And at the risk of sounding totally superficial … I’m going to say that my biggest fear was that I couldn’t wear any eye makeup for a week post-Lasik or do any strenuous workouts. Luckily, I had my last day of my 30 Day Shred on the day of my surgery.

So that’s Lasik in a nutshell. Feel free to email or comment if you’re curious about any other aspect of the surgery. So far, it’s made my life so much more convenient. One less bedtime and morning routine to deal with. Sometimes I still think I have my contacts in at night as I head to bed. And I almost picked up a gallon of contact solution at Costco the other day. But then I thought, “Who needs a WHOLE GALLON of saline? That’s just way too much, even for a cyclops. Why is Costco selling saline to cyclopses anyway? Ooh ooh, samples!”

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20/20: Thoughts on Chinese Cyborgs

I’m going to be having surgery for the first time tomorrow.

Lasik eye surgery.

It’ll be the first time in 20 years that I’ll be able to see unassisted! I’m soooooo excited.

Noob Daddy and I are throwing together a mini bonfire of sorts. We’re going to burn all my old glasses and contacts. It’ll be a spectacle! (pun intended)

The bonfire will last all of 2 minutes. It’ll be rather anticlimactic. But you’re all invited anyway :)

Interesting thing about my surgeon. I was told he’s done this procedure over 40,000 times. YOWZAS! That’s a lot of times. I was like, “Ok…. that’s impressive. Or …. is it monotonous?” I mean, after that many times, you probably want to make things thrilling again. You give yourself records to try and break.

If I can just get it down to 10.088 seconds per eye.

Or like, “See! No hands!! Blindfolded even!”

And then I was “reassured” that he’d actually been doing LASIK since before it was FDA approved in the US. And you can imagine how my expression turned from impressed to confused-sketched-out-disturbed. Apparently, he was doing LASIK in China where the FDA there snorts asbestos and eats lead for breakfast.

I started envisioning some of my peeps in China who were early patients of my surgeon aka Dr. Freakin Frankenstein. Visions of Chinese cyborgs dance in my head….

Ok, no… I’m being silly…. but seriously… ??

Oh, and another thing. I hate eye exams. It’s stressful, and I always feel like a failure in the end. Reading the charts. The Os and Cs and Gs all look the same to me. Of course, I’m leaned all the way forward with my face plastered to the binocular machine, squinting….sweating… trying to read that very last line but all the time wondering if he wiped off the machine after the person before me. I feel like I’ve got 10 people’s face oils all over my chin and forehead. I know…. it’s gross.

My optometrist (not Frankenstein) is so sweet and encouraging too. He’s like, “There you go! You got it! Great job!” But it’s not like I’m doing it on my own or anything. He’s got that machine jacked up to -1200 or something and still complimenting my vision. What a sweetheart.

Then there’s the: “Is 1 better or 2 … 1 or 2 … 2 or 1… 1 or …. “

I’m like, “Uhhh…. C. I mean … False! Oh god, I’m blind. I dunno. Phone a friend.”

Meanwhile, the optometrist is putting coke bottles and shards of glass over the machine… trying to stifle his laugh. “So you’re saying 1 is better? *stifling laugh* but… but… it can’t be, FOOL! They’re the same. Ha!”

Let’s not even talk about the air-blowing-in-the-eye-machine. That “machine” has got to be a sick optometry joke. I bet they have video cameras set up to watch patients flinch back 5 feet when the air strikes. The US should just use that machine instead of waterboarding. I’m just sayin.

Have you ever done the machine where you have to press a button each time you see spots of light appear? Another one that sets you up for failure. I just keep my eyes open during the entire test without blinking. Three minutes later my eyeballs are calcified. You kind of feel like you’re on a game show with that buzzer, too. My approach is just to press the button every 3 seconds in hopes I get at least a C- average.

My claim to fame … I take eye drops well. I can keep those suckers open without any problem. And, I was also told that I dilate well too. Sexy.

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