DAY 6- Yeah, I skipped a few days

I have been so grumpy. My husband has been Amazing! He brings me drinks, cooks cleans and watches Cayden. Today he left me home for the first day with Cayden. We need new truck tires so I sent him on that errand. I just put on Toy Story 3 and little man is a happy boy. That and pancakes of course.
I am sitting here with all the blinds shut and sheets over them. Just that little bit of light coming through hurts. I don't want to have to wear my sunglasses around the house. I also had to dim the screen on my computer. But overall, today has been the best day for vision. I can read things way better and not have to squint.
So remember how I said they put lenses on my eyes for a few days while the cells re heal on the surface? Well, Dr. Reed removed them two days ago. The left eye wasn't completely ready, but he took it off anyway. It hurt! I felt like a had 20 eyelashes in my eye. The right eye felt really good! I could see better without that mucked up lens in my eye. I still use two of my drops four times a day, Doctors orders.
I haven't been on here in days because of the blur. It was bad. Plus just reading gave me a terrible headache because my eyes were so tired. So I figured just rest. It has been so boring! I must say reading and watching movies are totally different. I read some stuff online last night for lie 20 minutes and I felt like I was gonna puke. But watching movies on my laptop for hours didn't hurt at all. I think it is because of concentrating and squinting to read the words hurts.
So I have to admit I have watched the 3rd season of One Tree Hill this week. It is so addicting. I only saw like maybe four episodes back in my senior year of high school. I was always to busy to watch it. So it is on Instant Netflix and I love it! Of course it is so unrealistic. My husband describes it as everything you can imagine happening to you in high school actually happens to them and then some!
So I was supposed to be at work the past two days and haven't been. Dr. Reed gave me a note for work to not go. Of course because of HIPPA, I think that's what its called, they wouldn't even read my note at work. But I was just like, Ill be there Tuesday. So tomorrow I go back. But because I happen to choose my PTO for this month. I have only tomorrow and then I don't go back till March 4Th! So weird how it worked out. But it will give my eyes plenty of time to heal! Woo Hoo!
So I think I have been healing long enough to decide to recommend PRK. Now remember I had
-11.25 prescription. It was terrible. I have cried a lot and been very depressed all week. But after waking up today and seeing as good as I do, I would highly recommend it! I was told by Dr. Reed before surgery that because it is so strong I might need glasses, they would be super thin though. I can say good-bye to bottle caps! I can live with that! My eyes will fluctuate in the next couple weeks. Like right now after typing so long they are getting sore. But it will all be worth it. I read other blogs about PRK before I actually did it, some people seemed to be in a lot of pain. Every one I think deals with it differently. I hate to say it, but most pf the people seemed to be men. My husband agreed that men deal with that kind of pain worse. I just kept comparing it to my cut from child labor that went to my A-hole and this was nothing compared to that! ;)

DAY 2- Blurry

Last night I slept from 930pm-430am. I woke up and took my safety goggles off. My eyes were so dry and burning. It was time for another round of drops (3 different kinds) and my lovely pain killer Vicodin. I was up for about 20 minutes with all that and then zonked out again till 7:45am. I got all dressed up, meaning my yoga pants and a sweatshirt, for my morning check-up at the Dr. office. The sun seemed unusually bright so I had my stunna shades on provided by the laser center. My husband actually likes them a lot and wants them when I'm done with them! I personally can't wait to hand them over to him. But they do work better than my Juicy pair. Which does just about nothing for my sensitive eyes.

The Doctor said everything looks perfect today! They were actually surprised at how great I could see. My vision does go in and out though. That is usual with this type of surgery. Lasik makes you see right away. You also would continue to be that way. PRK is a much longer healing process. But is suited me and my eyes to choose it.

When I woke up from my 3 1/2 hr. nap today I opened my eyes slowly and could see perect! It was amazing. It just blows my mind! Of course after my eyes were tired again, like right now, everything gets pretty blurry again. So I'm making sure I am getting sleep and lots of it. My husband has the week off work and has been very good about keeping our 3yr. old busy. My mother-in-law even came to make us meals or the next couple of days. So we are all set!

I am almost out of pain meds so we will see how that goes. I'm gonna call my Dr. tomorrow because I didnt even notice how little I was given. So I am hoping a miracle happens tomorrow and I just wont need them anymore. I do not wanna pay 200 more dollars to get more. But boy oh boy I do love those drops. I get so excited when the hours pass and it is time to take more!

Surgery day (DAY ONE)

So I had my surgery today at 2pm. Forgive me if my typing is off and I don't find errors. I am a little blurry. I went in at 1:30 and they had me take my realxer pill once I got all checked in. I got my bill of $3600 squared away. Chase had my back for 0% for 2 years! That is amazing! I was pretty excited. I waited in the room where they had an espresso machine and Valentines day cookies. But I was to nervous to enjoy such things. My husband went to go get lunch while I waited and waited. I don't even know if they were on time with my surgery because I was to nervous to move. So I never checked the time. But they called me in and a nice lady went over my meds. She put in some of my drops to numb my eyes. And one other, I think it was the steroid drops. Then I got my hair net and blue boots on and was ready to go. They took me in, My face was cleaned. I laid down. Their voics were pretty soothing. They were cracking jokes about me being the strongest rescription of the day and how I was the big winner. ;) Dr Reed said, "Is that your husband out there?" I said "yeah, somewhere over there. In the blurr" There was a blg glass panel ceiling to floor. The Dr waived at him. So I was so nervous!
We got started. He showed me the light I was to look at. Which is the part I was scared of "the red dot". I was worried if I dont look at it good enough I could go blind or something bad will happen. Well it went perect! None of it hurt at all. You just feel pressure. Like if somebody had their hand on your arm. But its your eye of course. First he placed the little clampy thing around my eye to keep it open. I though that would hurt too but it didnt at all. Oh and he also taped my eyelashes back. So he used thes little spinny brush to clean the surface and got rid of that top layer. He then scraped it a little to get any excess. Then the laser started. The Dr talked about what he was doing the whole time he did it. So I always knew what was coming. It calmed me. He would say "only 8seconds left, you are doing great!" Then soon enough I was done. It was exactly the same for both eyes. Now remember I started at an -11.25. The Dr. told me to turn and wave to my hubby about 20ft away through the glass. And I could see him!! I cried! I didn't think I would cry but I was so shaky and I think just in shock. They took me to a room next door and I felt weak and lightheaded and they said I turned pale. I got some water and started to feel better. I was just overwhelmed. There wasnt really anything wrong with me. So we got all our tips from the nurse on how to do meds and for cleaning the eye area. I cant take a shower till tomorrow. My poor hubby. :) I got my bad ass sunglasses. They make me look like a thug. But they totally block out the sun. I also got some goggles to wear to bed so I don't touch my eyes in my sleep. They had placed a lense on each eye that needs to stay in for 4days. So I have tear drops that I have to put in starting tomorrow morning.
So the ride home...about a few minutes into the car ride I could feel that my eyes were gonna start hurting. I was lightly feeling like they got sunburned or had something in them. So I told my husband to get me the Vicodin. You gotta stay ahead of the pain! So I recommend taking that pill as you are leaving the office. I was not ahead of the pain. The next 45 minutes I was miserable. My husband had to stop at Chick fil A for some grilled chicken for me. I was nauseous from having no food with all the meds. As soon as I got home I took the drops that are like Motrin in a bottle. They are the thicker drops they give you. I wanted to just sleep. So I slept for 3 hours. When I woke up a little bit ago I took all my drops and another Vicodin. I didn't even wake up in pain but I didn't want the pain to start. So all is good. I have an appt. in the morning. So I am gonna sleep as much as possible till then. They say that sleep is what heals the eyes quicker. I have work on Sunday. So I need them to heal as quick as possible!

EYE Journey

So I am so excited! For the past six months I have had issues with my eyes. I have a -11.25 prescription. Basically have to hold a book to my nose to see it and everything beyond that point is blurry. I have been this way my whole life. It has just progressively got worse. So I never started at that bad. It just ended with that crummy prescription. So my eyes have been steady at that point for about 5 years. Once your eyes are the same for so many years, you can look at having LASIK. Well over the past 6 months I have had itchy burning eyes. I have allergies so I assumed that's all it was. Well I went to Kaiser and got an opthamologist appointment to see whats going on. It just was not getting better. After four appointments, which lovely Kaiser said would be free and then I got a nice bill later (jerks), I am finally on the road to progress. He gave me three different medications. I was diagnosed with Red Eye and two other things that I cant pronounce. I was also told, to NEVER wear contacts again. My eyes were being destroyed from wearing them so much. This made me cry for days! I have what you would call bottle cap glasses. Long story short, I ended up with the approval for eye surgery. So I was referred to a Kaiser surgeon. But after much research I ended up going to Griffin and Reed in Sacramento. I LOVE Dr. Reed! I feel like I'm talking to my dad when I'm there. He is like "If you were my daughter, I wouldn't do LASIK". He recommended PRK surgery. It did take a month for him to actually approve me for the surgery though. My eyes were still in really bad shape and there was a bump on my cornea from contact wear. But a few days ago I finally got the 'All Clear'!!

So LASIK is where the cut a flap back off the surface of your eye and then use there laser to fix it. PRK is a laser, but they don't peel a flap back. PRK will take longer to heal but is safer for someone with my prescription. There is also a ton of other reasons why I would choose it. I feel way better about this decision. I think people choose LASIK because it heals way faster and is a little cheaper. But for the size of my eye surface and prescription I am going the PRK route. So my surgery is on 02/14/12. I will have about five follow-ups after surgery. It will also be painful for a week afterwards. I will be paying $300-500 for prescriptions that are given for after the surgery. The surgery and everything will come to $3600.

This is the most scary thing I have ever done. People ask me why. They want to know why would I risk it for an elective surgery. Meaning it is my choice. But you can't see life through someone else's eyes. So it is hard to explain unless you could see through my eyes. My biggest fear would be to just get worse after surgery. It is always a possibility. So I will update you on everything. Hopefully I won't go blind and if I do then you probably can guess that I haven't updated for that reason. lol. that is a nervous laughter. ;)