Day 3

Well, to be honest, day 3 was awful. My left eye continued to feel very gritty and the vision was poor in it all day.

Of course me being me (ie paranoid, anxious etc...) I started to worry that there was a problem so gave the helpline a ring. they arranged for someone to call me back and eventually they said to come in for an appointment tomorrow. I know that everything is probably normal but it will be nice to get some reassurance.

So it's back off to Newcastle tomorrow...

Day 2

I awoke on day 2 to find my left eye much more comfortable, although vision still not great.
We headed off to the Lake District for the day today so it was and idea opportunity for me to test out me newfound glasses-less sight. It was wonderful to be able to wear sunglasses that weren't prescription ones and in addition it was a lovely day with the lakes and mountains looking fabulous in the winter sunlight.
There were times when I had really great vision in both eyes...fluctuating vision in the first few days/months/weeks is to be expected. So generally I was pleased with the day...until about 7pm.
After a less than successful trip to an over-croweded Ambleside, we got home and decided to head to TGI Friday's at Teesside Park. It was fine until I needed to put in my eye drops...only to find that I'd forgotten them! Obviously at that point my eyes got really dry and irritated. I got home and did my drops but my left eye was once again sore and didn't have great vision. I went to bed early and hoped for improvements the next day.

The road to recovery

I had read and been told that the discomfort felt in my eyes would wear off within the next 4-6 hours so I thought it odd that I might need dark glasses, going by the fact the my surgery was at 6pm. How wrong I was!

As soon as the anaesthetic began to wear off I could hardly open my eyes and it felt like someone was sticking nails (not small pins) into my eye balls. Now, I don't want to put anyone off here but it really was horrible. You have to remember though, that for a woman I have an extraordinarily low pain threshold and am actually a bit of a wuss when it comes to pain so maybe I'm not the best person to talk about how it felt. I kept my eyes closed for most of the journey home apart from brief moments when I managed a brief open, to let the tears fall out and get some idea of where we were. However, this was where having the treatment on an evening was really handy. As soon as we got in, Graeme expertly put my eye drops in for me (I say "expertly" as I could hardly keep my eyes open for long enough to get them in, so it was a hard job), then put on the attractive eye guards and I went to bed. Good to keep the eyes closed and also good for the diet as I missed out on my tea as well (didn't feel much like eating).

The next morning saw me waking and removing the eye guards with trepidation, to find out I could see...without my glasses. Now this was in the right eye very well but the left eye wasn't as good. However, progress!

At 10.15 I had another appointment in Newcastle so we went up there and I was constantly reading number plates, covering one eye then the other just to check. Left eye still not as good but nevertheless still seeing things. At the clinic I had a sight test and was pleased to hear that my binoculor vision was better then 20/20 but not to worry about my left eye as vision takes time to settle down. So I left happy and ready for the rest of the day, which proved to be very pleasant.

The day of the zapping

The procedure was booked for 5pm on Saturday 27th December so I had to work hard all day trying not to think about what would happen. All I knew really ,was that I'd need to wear dark glasses afterwards and that my eyes would be uncomfortable for a few hours afterwards.

Once again, with children safely installed at "Grandma and Grandad's with the caravan", Graeme and I headed up to Heworth Metro station for our journey into Newcastle. Once at the clinic, I was taken for an eye test again and met my surgeon. After another short wait it was time.

I was taken into the "pre-treatment" room and given a host of eye drops for after the procedure. Anti-biotics and anti-inflammetories to be used every 2hrs after the surgery for the next 48hrs then 4 times a day for next week. I was also given artificial tear drops for dry-eyes once I'd reduced the other drops to 4 times a day. In addition I was also provided with attractive plastic eye guards that I'm to wear whilst asleep for the next fortnight to stop me rubbing my eyes in my sleep. I had feared that they would be like black pirate ones but thankfully not...they're clear and have little holes in them for the eyes to breath. The worst thing about them is the tape used to stick them on...they remove your skin everytime too so I'm now developing some lovely red marks on my cheeks and forehead!

Once all of the aftercare was talked through I had anticeptic painted around my eyes and I went into the "laser room". By this point I was rather nervous, but reasoned with myself that it couldn't possibly be worse than have 2 caesareans whilst awake, could it?

I had to lay down and had anaesthtic drops administered and dessings placed over my right eye then a suction thingie (and I hope I'm not confusing anyone with my use of the technical language here), while the flap was cut. That took seconds, then I was moved out from under the flap-cutter (see, all of the technical stuff!) and the lasering began. I had to focus on a red and green light (the laser, apparently) whilst the surgeon did the zapping. There was a slight smell of burning (nice) but I felt no pain at all.

Once the right eye was done it was time for the left one. This proved a little more difficult, as by that time my right eye was struggling to stay open and I found it hard to keep my left eye still. However, it was soon over and I was returned to Graeme who was waiting for me in a darkened room. I had a coffee and put on my sunglasses then was checked over by the surgeon and allowed to go on my way.

How I made it through Newcastle back to the station then onto the Metro back to the car with my eyes constantly watering and closed most of the time, I'll never know. Suffice to say, Graeme was a hero, as usual and I know have quite a good idea of how blind people must feel.

The procedure took about 15 mins and I couldn't believe how quickly it was all over.

Next was to come the recovery.

Consultation

So, last Tuesday I headed up to Newcastle with my husband for my initial, no obligation, FREE consultation. We were there for about 2 hours and they did a sight test and several scans on my eyes to determine whether I was a suitable candidate or not. Unsurprising I was a suitable candidate and we got to discussing finanace and treatment dates.

To my surprise, they had a slot for Saturday 27th December a 6pm, so I took it and we headed off home.

Some technical stuff for those who might be interested my prescription was:

Right eye -3.00

Left eye -3.25, cyl -05.0 (I think) and Axis 60

I've no idea what it all means but it looks like I know a bit about what was going on! Apprently it meant that my prescrition wasn't too bad and correcting my vision should be fairly straight forward.

A bit of backgound

I've worn glasses since I was about 13 years old and always disliked it. I remember choosing horrible huge plastic-framed things (as they were the cheapest) and feeling like I was hiding behind them. As I was quite shy I suppose it helped me keep well hidden and meant that I could just continue on my own merry way of hiding from the world. I don't remember being picked on because of my glasses but as a target for bullies anyway with the awful square clothes my mum insisted on buying me and the fact that I was clever, so I suppose the glasses didn't really figure in the big scheme of things far as those kind of people are concerned.

As I got older I tried out contact lenses, firstly gas-permeable ones - yuck and then moving onto soft ones. In wearing my contact lenses I gained a new-found confidence, although even they weren't ideal. People who wear contact lenses might identify with the tired, dry-eyes feeling at about 2am when you've had them in for far too long and now it feels like your lenses are stuck onto your eyeballs with super glue and you worry that you're goint to pull you eyes out as you remove them.

So, university over and done with I continued with contact lenses but they became more and more uncomfortable, reaching a point a few years ago when I had to finally give in a stop wearing them, returning to glasses full time.

I was not happy with that situation at all, going back to hiding behind them and experimenting with some slightly more fashionable eye-wear but never really getting it right as my face seemed to be the wrong shape for them.

Matters came to a head this summer when I got some lovely, red framed glasses and some rather nice sunglasses too but I could not get them to feel comfortable. They hurt my ears, hurtn my nose, gave me headaches and slipped down my nose when ever I did any sport (a good excuse not to do any physical activity).

Then I spoke to my cousin's partner who had had laser eye surgery earlier in the year and he was absolutley over the moon with it. Having considered it before, I became hooked on the idea of having my eyes zapped and ridding myself of the dreaded glasses once and for all, so here we are, at the point where I dedided it was time for action. I asked for contributions towards the procedure for Christmas and then all that was left for me to do was to make the appointment for my initial consultation...

Laser Eye Surgery

As an addicted blogger I have decided that the best way to catalogue my journey from short-sightedness to (hopefully) perfect vision would be to blog about it so here goes, my blog about my laser eye treatment.
I don't know how long this blog will last but maybe it will be of use to other people considering taking the leap into laser eye surgery and it might answer some questions that the clinics don't tell you.