So yesterday morning at 9:00am I went into the "operating room" hoping to never have to wear glasses again!! Oh man, what an experience. I went through 20/20 Institute and I would recommend them to anyone! They were so nice, and their facility is beautiful! Drinks and snacks always await you when you come in and I can't tell you how many times I was asked if I wanted something to drink. Everyone was very thorough when explaining what they were doing, procedures, and making sure I didn't have any questions along the way. For 'medical' reasons I had to get the Bladeless LASIK. Something about not being enough depth in my eye for any possible future refinements... Whatever, I trusted what they were saying.
The procedure went about as I expected. Lay down, get your eye propped open, put numbing drops in, for the Bladeless they put this suction thing on your eye for like 20 seconds and it does it's thing, then the doctor peels back the cornea, they zap your eye for 10 sec, put some drops in your eye, and you done... Repeat with the next eye. The suction was weird. It was fine on my right eye, but kind of hurt on my left eye, not sure if they didn't prop my eye open good enough or what, but it was like a 4/10 on a pain scale. I was immediately able to see better after the surgery which was so cool!
After the procedure I went back into an exam room for the doctor to check my eyes and make sure they looked good. He said I might have a red spot on my eye called an 'eye hickey' from the suction and it might be there for a few days-weeks. They said that once the numbing drops wear off is when I'll start feeling the pain.
I'm still feeling good as we walk out to the car and I'm thinking oh this is great, I'll just go home and sleep and everything will be great... Then the numbing drops wore off... Oh.my.word... I popped the extra Valium that they gave me hoping that would help me relax, I laid down and the pain came on so strong! I didn't understand how anyone was supposed to sleep after that, I was crying which almost made the pain worse! And I'm not allowed to touch my eyes, so they are watery and burning and I can't do a thing about it! I finally called them and asked if I could take some Tylenol PM since the Valium didn't seem to be working and they said that was okay. Finally, about 30 minutes later (almost a total of 1.5 hours after we left the office) I was able to fall asleep! Next thing I know I'm waking up and it's 4:00pm!
My vision was great when I woke up, my eyes were feeling a little dry (kind of like when your contacts dry up) but definitely no where near the level of pain after the surgery. I was even able to go pick up Paige from daycare! I do have an 'eye hickey' in my left eye that is quite noticeable but doesn't bother me too much. At my follow-up appointment this morning I found out I also have a bruise in my right eye but it's under the eyelid so it's not visible.
Overall, I am very happy I got the procedure, it's amazing to be able to see, although sometimes I feel like I have my contacts in! The worst parts about the whole process - the pain after the surgery and the fact that I can't rub my eyes for a week!
