One eye down
Well, I had the eye surgery. It has been a wild ride and even though it has only been a week it is hard for me to explain all that has happened in the last 8 days, There has been all kinds of excitement in my house. For starters, the night before surgery my parents came from Puerto Rico. We saw them this summer, but my mom had not travelled since 2017 (pre Maria) and my dad...well, since 1992. That's right. My dad has not gotten on a plane in almost 30 years. It is and was a pretty big deal.
It is hard for me to wrap my head around the technology folks. I mean, seriously. I have worn glasses since I was 2 years old. Over 4 decades and I am the blindest person I know. I have lived (and seen eye doctors) in New York, Puerto Rico, Georgia, Texas, and Germany. Every time I visited a new doctors I have been met with "Oooos" and "Ahhhhs" because of the nature of my myopia. The time, the money, the tests, the years of it - all fixed in 10 minutes.
Yep. It took longer to sign in and wait in the front office than it did to fix my worst eye. I was taken to a "pre op bay" in the Sandy Springs office of the Woolfson Eye Institute where I was examined (blood pressure, temperature, what not). Then they made me lie down and they probably put 25 eye drops in my eyes. Different ones, over and over, while they explained what they were doing and what I should expect next. Maybe 5 minutes later I was wheeled into the surgical area. I laid there mostly blind while I met the surgical nurse, then the anesthesiologist, and finally the surgeon. They all assured me it was going to be fine. It was going to be short and sweet. That I would be awake but I would not feel a thing. They put something over my face so that only my eye was exposed and all I could hear was the three of them talking, mostly about basketball, sometimes about my eye. All I could feel was water in my eyes, like a waterboarding experience for my eyeball, except my eyes had been numbed by the drops so I could not feel it really. And all I could see was what I can only describe as an underwater surreal light show. It was what I imagine an LSD trip would feel like. Before I knew it Dr. Brody said "I am putting the new lens in now." and I was left thinking "How?"
I sit up after 10 minutes and my left eye is still covered and everything through my right eye was kind of orange or red. I ask about it and they say its the "bactine-like" medicine they put on my eye, it will wash out. I am back in the pre surgical bay area except it is less than 20 minutes after and now it is post surgical. They start putting more eye drops in until the red is gone. I am a bit drowsy from the anesthesia so my nurse calls Michael and puts him on speaker phone so he can hear the after surgery care instructions. They wheel me out to the car where Michael is awaiting me to drive me back home. I am wearing my eye glasses and big sunglasses over them, but I have no eye patch. It does not need to be covered, unless I am sleeping and even then it is a see through plastic cup with holes in it for air.
I can immediately tell a big difference. I cannot say for sure because my eyes an very dilated so it is hard to see but it is obviously improved. By the time I am home I am already trying to read things. I can't. but I can see all kinds of stuff. The colors are brighter, some are even different, and I can tell my eyes are amazing.
The next day there is a little improvement. I go for my post surgery check up and the doctor says everything went perfect and from what he can tell I should see 21/50 with no assistance. I can basically see as well as I did with my contacts, except I am not wearing contacts! Every day that goes by my eyes improve a bit more. I need help reading. I couldn't read my phone at all the first three days. Now I can see the bigger fonts, and if I wear reading glasses I can see better, but not perfect. I went to see my optometrist Thursday (one week after) and he says it worked better than he expected. He wants me to be patient because he can still see some swelling inside the eye. He says 3 weeks out from the surgery he will have a better idea of how well he can correct me. It is safe to say though, my "bad" eye will only need help with reading. We now call it the "new" eye, so as to not offend my left eye, who is used to being the "good" eye.
My brain is very confused. I am getting headaches. I have all kinds of glasses around me but none of them really "work". In order to read and write I wear my old glasses with my new eye closed. When I want to exercise my new eye I close my old eye and walk around with just my new eye exposed to world. Naked. I am practicing reading with my new eye and over the counter readers, but it does not work well. It's incredibly frustrating because I have two separate worlds here. I mean the colors are different, everything is different from one side to the other. I wear an eye patch from time to time. Partly for fun, partly to give one eye a rest.
Mostly I find myself confused. The changes are hard for my little brain. Depending on the circumstances I am either wearing glasses with a lens missing, or an eye closed. I can be wearing glasses or not, There was a moment today when I was at my desk at work trying to remember where I had which set of glasses and why I needed them. Then there's the eye drops: one once a day, once four times a day, another one four times a day, five minutes apart but only until today(Thursday). Tomorrow I can lose one of the eye drops. By next Wednesday I have to start them on the old eye for the next surgery. Trust me, there is a chart.
I am trying to be patient. One more week of this, and I will get the surgery on my "old" "good" eye. That will render my glasses obsolete. I can't wait! One eye down!
Thanks for sharing this. So happy for you! Seeing all those spring colors in the greenhouse will be amazing. Good luck with the other eye.
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