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My laser eye surgery experience

Well, I finally did it. I got Laser Eye Surgery and would I do it all over again? I don't honestly know. My eye sight wasn't that bad -5.25 in both eyes. My contacts were annoying me, I could no longer wear them for extended periods of time without drying out and my glasses never ever fit right, no matter what I bought, they were always sliding down my face, were to damn tight on my ears and nose and I finally got approved for financing. I'm self-employed with no health insurance, so its all me baby that's paying for this surgery over the next 5 years. Total cost for the surgery including pre and post ops visits with eye doctor and medication $3900.00. Additional costs include: preservative free eye drop vials over the next 6-8+ weeks, potential glasses for distance driving. Not what I expected to have laser eye surgery so I could wear glasses again. My doctor says so far I have 20/20 vision to read and watch tv and work on the computer but its the distance and driving part that scares me - I only seem to have 20/40 vision which is the legal limit for driving. Basically its a damn good thing I know where I'm going and not looking for street signs or house numbers because I can't see them clearly, I see blurry. They, the doctors and everyone I've talked to says that the blurriness will clear up within the next few days but I'm still scared that it won't..so I've thought I'd catalog the events of my journey through recovery, the joys and anxieties of my laser eye surgery.

Day of Surgery 4/27/05 - I expected not to be able to see clearly right away and I knew I'd be groggy and I expected that. What I didn't expect was the burning smell of the laser or the incredibly long wait to actually get the procedure done, long enough for the valium to wear off before the surgery actually happened. All went well, the doctor told me to stare at the red blinking light the entire time which was hard because it seem to melt away during the laser procedure.

Day Two 4/28/05 - I woke up and could see, amazing I could see the clock and my surroundings. I could also see that my windows were really dirty, never noticed it before, my vision was defintely crisper/clearer than before. Got up, followed the instructions and then went to my post-ops appt, that's when I realized I could not see far into the distance. Scare me, I could see the signs once I got about 20ft from them but couldn't see license plates of cars in front of me or street signs. I really really didn't like driving like this. My doctor told me that my reading and close up vision was 20/20, my distance vision was 20/40, legal to drive and that she wasn't going to guarantee that it would improve but it should. She also asked if it felt like i was looking through a shower door - hell I don't know, most of my shower doors are solid, i can't see through them at all. It did feel like i was looking through gauze - which is expected and is normal according to the post ops instruction sheet. I told her I wasn't comfortable driving like that - and she said that she could give me temporary glasses for distance driving if it didn't improve over the next week. What the hell, I have to live with it and drive like this for a week? I can home and went back to sleep

Day Three 4/29/05 - Went back to work, the distance vision improved a smidgen, I could see a little better. Although the cortisone drops they gave me are giving me headaches and weird white discharge in the corners of my eyes which I'm not sure if its normal or not, I only have two more day of using those. I did notice that I have eye strain from trying to focus my eyes for distance and a headache from that eye strain. Also being on the computer all day, caused some eye strain. The funny thing is when you're wearing contacts and you have eye strain or a headache from your contacts, you can take them out but when its just your eyes trying to focus and heal from laser eye surgery, you're just stuck with the pain.

Night driving - they said I might experience halos or starbursts or glare from the lights but thank god, I didn't experience any of that while driving at night, if anything the night time was more clear, more crisp except for the fact I still couldn't see distance clearly.

Another thing, is having to put eye lubricanting drops in one's eyes while driving. I'm suppose to put the eye drops in every hour and that does help with the distance vision - first it causes more blurriness, then my eyes clear up for a few minutes, then back to blurriness.

Day Four 4/30/05 - Got up and went to the bank, still having problems with distance vision, I can see but I can't see the billboards and I can't read the small print on signs, street signs from a distance still a problem and while shopping for a few grocery items, I couldn't see down the isle clearly, blurry yes, clear no. Headaches back from the cortisone drops, only one more day on those, hopefully the headaches will go away. My eyes hurt today, irritated and strained and dry. Drops help but it takes a few seconds to see clearly after putting them in, not a good idea while driving. Maybe I need to try a different type of eye drops, tomorrow maybe I'll go see if I can find something different to try. Headache is definetly back. Every morning now I wake up and look out the balcony and see if I can see the little house across the water, can I make out the windows? if yes, the distance vision is improving and yes, every morning I can see the little house and its windows but as soon as I start using the cortisone drops, my vision becomes blurry

My anxiety - I realize it only been 4 days, 5 if you count the laser surgery day but I didn't get laser eye surgery so I could have 20/40 vision. I was told in perhaps 10-15 years, I'd have to wear reading glasses to read, ok, anything is better than wearing heavy glasses but I don't remember being told that I might not be able to see distance clearly. I was near sighted (ummm..distance problem). I don't remember being told that my distance vision would be blurry. Although I have to admit, never in a million years would I have been able to drive without my glasses or contacts, I just really really don't like that I can't see clearly to drive. And I understand that it takes a few days for the eyes to heal, they have you wear these funky plastic lenses over your eyes for 10 nights so you don't rub your eyes..does it take 10 days for the eyes to heal and for your vision to become crisp and clear completely? And the post op instruction page, says that your vision may appear smudged as if looking through gauze, this will improve over the next few weeks - ok, damn I hope so, because I don't want to keep driving with blurry vision, that scares me and the headaches from the eye strain/my eyes trying to focus is hurting my head.

I'll keep up dating this page over the next few weeks, praying that my eyes start feeling better and my distance vision keeps improving. The answer today, would I do it all over again? probably not (although this answer might chance as my eyes improve). The only other thing I'm wondering about it, if my vision doesn't improve, can I wear contacts for the difference - probably not because up close, my vision is perfect.

Day Five 5/1/05 - Got up, had sleepies in my eyes, good sign, my eyes are tearing naturally, I could see the details of the little house across the water, yeah. Things are much clearer. I still have a slight headache but definetly better. Honestly I think I must be allergic to something in the cortisone drops, my eyes feel 10x better without it. Haven't gotten outside yet to see how the distance driving vision is but I will have to at some point today, I need to go to the store. Today is a better day. More sleep helped defintely, gave my eyes a chance to rest.

Day Six 5/2/05 - Got up, could see across the water and the little house, thought it would be great, I could finally see while I was driving, got in the car, defintely a little better but still blurry. As the day progressed, my eyesight got blurrier, I couldn't see across the street, I couldn't see people's faces, no features and on the way home, really really blurry. I was worried, all the anxiety of not being able to see and damn I did it to myself and I was defintely going to call the doctor in the morning and get temporary driving glasses so I could see while I was driving...that's it, I got laser eye surgery so I could wear glasses, what a pain.

Day Seven 5/3/05 - Sometime in the middle of the night, I was hot, the tape and the googles on my face were making me sweat and I took off the googles. Its kinda of like headgear, if you want it off bad enough in your sleep you'll take it off. I woke up and I could see better, called the doctor to get temporary driving glasses because I seriously don't like driving when I can't see. Got in the car and wouldn't you know it, I could see alot better - distance was clear, still a tiny bit blurry but nothing like the day before. Saw the doctor, she did an exam and told me my vision was 20/20. I explain that I was getting headaches and towards the end of the day, things everything was a little blurry. She told me to rest, stay off the computer at night - ok so that's not happening right now, but I'm trying, that I had major surgery, trauma to my eyes and I should take it easy because my eyes will tire at night for awhile until they completely heal over the next few months. She also told me go get TheraTears for the day and TheraTears Liquid Gel for night use and that will help with the blurries..she was right, it did help alot especially when my eyes start to get tired from being on the computer all day. Tonight was alot better after using the liquid gel in my eyes before driving, my eyes were tired and I could tell the difference after using the gel and the drops. She also told me that she wouldn't give me temporary driving glasses because tommorrow the prescription would be different as my eyes heal. Today was a positive day and would I do it all over again, the answer is yes today. Only 3 more days with the googles, thank god! And the headaches, I've been getting, well, tylenol extra strength seems to do the trick. Time to go rest these tired eyes of mine.

One thing I learned today, my original vision before the surgery was 20/400, I was legally blind. So today is defintely a better day, my vision is now 20/20 and 20/30 when I'm tired.

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