Surgery

So, finally the big day was here. I had actually stayed up until 4am the night before, and then woke up around 9am, in preparation for the sleep that I'll be needing afterwards. The doc said that the longer you sleep, the better the healing process will be.

It had been pretty much out of mind the last few days, so I wasn't really nervous. Also after reading Teresa's blog, I pretty felt pretty comfortable. I do have to say that the waiting area at Clear Choice has a very calm ambiance. I checked in and paid in full (yikes) and basically just sat and waited in the lobby. About 10 minutes before my appointment, a masseuse offered me a massage. My nerves were pretty calm, but I figured I might as well get my money's worth. It was basically one of the massages that you see people get the mall...except with calm music in the background. I do have to say it was pretty relaxing, though that may have been the 5 hours of sleep that I had the night before.

After about 10 minutes, the massage was done and just as I was about to partake of the complimentary cookie goodness, I was called in. They had me take my pouch of goodies (i.e. drugs). I entered another waiting room with 4 seats, two massage chairs and two regular ones. Three of the seats were taking, and the lady that brought me in kicked one of the people out of the normal seats and told them to move into the massage chair. She told me to sit in the normal one. I guess being in the massage chair means that you're on deck. While I was sitting, she put one of those patient caps on my head and scrubbed iodine over my eyelids.

I was also instructed to take one of the valium pills and two benadryl. I just sat and wait. It was a purple room, where they were playing a Neil Diamond XM channel in the background. Also there was a fish tank built into the wall and another wall with a window to one of the surgical rooms. You can also hear the sounds of the laser in the background....it sounds like a constant clicking noise and some buzzing. They called each person in one by one and I eventually was asked to move to the massage chair. sweet... I think I sat in the chair for about 30 minutes fiddling around with settings.

Eventually, I was called in. I walked into the first room (the one with the window) and immediate laid down on the chair (kinda like a dentist chair). One of the assistants drowned each of my eyes with numbing drops. (the more the better, I say!) The surgeon came into the room and introduced himself. I still wasn't very nervous, but you can tell that his bedside manner was used to dealing with quite the opposite. He explained the procedure again and asked if I had any questions (nope).

The actual procedure
So after a few more minutes of waiting for the numbing drops to take effect, the surgeon came back in and say they were going to make the flap here and then walk me over to the other room to do the laser part. This room was brightly lit. He started by putting this clear plastic device on my right eye. This is where the pressure came into play. It wasn't painful. I can only describe it as the sensation that you feel when getting hit in the face with a ball...except in slow-motion.

Ok...for these thinking about it, I'll describe. You know when you get hit by a ball, your vision goes black for flash, and then you see stars whenever you close your eyes? Instead, once they start putting the clear device on your eyes, you slowly feel the pressure building. Then your vision goes black (like when the instant the ball hits you) and then you see stars. I would describe it as mild discomfort...and then when it feels like it's about to hit the medium discomfort level, it's over. The pressure stops instantly and then your vision returns, albeit blurry.

They then do the same thing on the next eye. Exact same feeling. Once that's done, they put another few drops of something in each eye (I forgot to ask) and then you wait. I kept my eyes closes, but snuck a few quick peeks out of curiosity. I was able to see through both eyes, again just blurrily.

After a few minutes, I felt the assistant come by and he helped me up and walked me over to the laser room. The laser room was a darker room. He had me lie down and basically just position the machine over my eye in preparation for the pew pew (my sounds for the laser) part. I saw a weird pattern of lights. It basically looked like this:


At this point, not sure if it was the valium or the flap making, but I had a hard time opening my eyes.

The surgeon came in and gave me another round of numbing drops. The immediately put a patch over my left eye. Then then opened my right eye and somehow taped it to stay open. (It was hard for me to figure out what was going on, but I know I felt tape.) Then I can tell in all my blurriness that the surgeon had started flipping the flap open. This is where I felt a pinching sensation. I can only compare it to getting an eyelash in your eye and it turns the wrong direction that pinches. As soon as the flap is lifted, my vision gets immediately blurry.

Once he started, I saw the same pattern, but the red light was split and kind of moving. This is what I saw:

Ok, so this is where I got all confused. In all the material that was given to me, it said the most important thing was to continue looking at the red light. The surgeon kept telling me to look at the blinking light. The only light that was blinking was the green light in the middle. Well, he started already pew pewing my eye, and I didn't want to move my eye anymore by talking, so I just stared at the blinking light like the surgeon told me. The whole thing felt like it only took maybe a minute. The red light stopped and the surgeon started fiddling with the eye again. No pinching...I think I saw a brush over my eye...and eventually (i'm guessing once the flap was positioned) my vision came back. I couldn't tell if it was better or anything. They put a patch on the eye and immediately started on the left eye.

The left was pretty much the same as the right. The pinching was less, so perhaps the numbing drop need more time to take effect. Again, it lasted for about a minute and then done. Easy peasy.

They took the patch of my eye and helped me up. At this point, I can tell my vision is already better. It was very hazy, but I can recognize the surgeon's face now. I can see details that I definitely couldn't have seen before. The doc walked me into one last room. He sat me down, and had me look through a device where he could look at each eye closely. He said the surgery went well, and reiterated all the post-op stuff. The more I kept my eyes closed, the better they will heal. He gave me the schedule to take the prescription drops and said I was all good.

He left and one last person came in to tape clear eyeshields over each eye. It was literally 5 minutes after the surgery when I was brought out to the lobby and met Beck to drive us home.