I Once Was Blind, But Now I See

Well, I wasn't really that blind, but I was completely dependent on my glasses...until last Friday. One week ago today, I had LASIK surgery. As far as surgeries go, it was painless and pretty easy, but it has and will make such a profound impact on my daily life! I'll be able to see as soon as I open my eyes in the morning, when I have to be up in the middle of the night with Steven (and future babies), when I work-out, and (the biggest one) Steven no longer has anything to grab and throw off my face. He's been pretty unfazed by this change. He did look at my eyes very intently the first several days with a bemused look (I guess he thinks I finally wised up and quit wearing them). I have noticed an increase in the numbers of tries he makes to grab Charlton's. =)

I realize that it's kind of weird for my friends to think about me not wearing glasses. My friends in Louisiana (where I grew up) and most of my college friends never knew me to wear glasses much because I could still wear my contacts then. I had to have a minor procedure the summer between my Soph and Jr year of college after which my doctor told me I couldn't wear contacts anymore or we would most likely have to do the procedure again. Ironically, this "minor procedure" in the doctor's office was much more traumatic than LASIK. Granted it was 7.5 years ago, but he used a scalpel and my eye actually bled afterwards. Not to be gross but I did end up fainting in the parking lot after looking in a mirror on my way out the door. Thankfully, my then soon-to-be husband caught me and helped my mom get me back to the dorm to rest. That's true love (even though now he'll tell me that it was pretty gross)! My eye was completely healed by our wedding that was about 3 months later...but I regress as I usually do when I tell a story...after all that I did not want to do it again so I have worn glasses everyday for the last 7.5 years.

My Philly friends, since they met me 2 years later, have never known me without my glasses which seems weird to me because in my head I don't think of myself with them on. I always get ready--fix hair and make-up--without them on so that's what I think of. I'm always bummed when I have to then put my glasses on, especially when I'm getting dressed-up. But no more! Woo-Hoo!!!!!!!!!!

We were at the eye center for 2-3 hours but the actual surgery took less than 5 minutes per eye. Charlton can tell you exactly what it looked like because he watched the whole thing on a flat screen TV. I don't want to think about how my surgery (which Charlton said was "amazingly cool") was entertainment, but I didn't care as long as I didn't have to watch it. It was painless; although, I could feel pressure on my eye when the laser cut the flap. The doctor and staff were really wonderful where I went; I am happy to recommend them to any one interested. I was surprised how much I could see immediately after the surgery. My eyesight was pretty blurry but I didn't think I'd be able to hold my eyes open at all. You have to use a lot of eye drops in the next week, but you really don't mind because it's really uncomfortable when your eyes get dry. The worst part about it was having to sleep in these goggles (very similar to swimming goggles) for a week, and I'll admit that I made it exactly five days and then threw them out with much pleasure.

I was a little nervous and grumpy the next day because even though they told me that my eyesight would be blurry for a few weeks, it still made me nervous that it might never get better. I really wanted to put my glasses back on to be able to focus a little better. However, I did an excellent report at my one-day check-up on Saturday: 20/20 in one eye and 20/25 in the other. I could read one or two letters on the 20/15 line so they expect me to be able to see better than 20/20 when my eyes have fully healed. I've felt fine all week but do get tired more quickly and more often than usual so I've been taking a nap when Steven does and trying to take it a little easier. Thus, no blogging and not much emailing because it was very hard to look at the bright computer screen for long. Today--exactly one week later--I feel good and just a have a little bit of blurriness (mostly later in the day when my eyes are more tired).

Thanks to my dear husband, my mom, and my mother-in-law without whom I could not have taken the time to have and recover from the surgery. I'll continue to update as my eyesight improves and I promise the next post will have pictures of Steven.