I have had glasses every since I can remember. I believe it was 2nd grade. When I was little, I remember WANTING glasses. I would get the fake ones from Claire's and wear them around. Silly, huh? My first pair of glasses were RIDICULOUS. RED. Red metal frames. Hilarious.
Anyways, I have been wanting to have this surgery FOREVER. My eye doctor said I would be a perfect candidate so that made me more anxious to get it. BUT I had to wait. I was pregnant... then nursing.... then pregnant again.... then nursing. Kent gifted me about three times "Lasik surgery". But every time he gave it to me, I couldn't get it done because of one of the previous reasons listed above. How clever of him. So when he gave it to me for Mother's Day, I held him to it! ;) I stopped nursing Kallie right at her 1 year birthday so I was ready to go. We made a trip to Texas in May and I made the appointment. I then put it in the back of my mind because deep down, I was scared to death! July came around and I was still just not thinking about it. The morning of surgery, I woke up a nervous wreck (although happy that it was my LAST morning to have to put contacts in). I was able to grab a quick picture--- one of my last with glasses!
The morning of the surgery my mom and I got ready. The girls stayed with my Aunt Debbie and Grandmother when we left. I didn't want to drive but my mom wanted me to because she was going to have to make the drive back home. We were about 30 minutes into the trip and I looked down and we were going 90 miles an hour! I told her she should have driven. I was a nervous wreck. Almost sick to my stomach. I don't remember ever being that nervous.
We got to the eye center and it was time for me to go back. I was sitting in a room with two other people. The nurses had us take off our glasses and they cleaned our eyes and put numbing drops in (the first of MANY). The next room is what got me. The first step was to make the flap. They didn't actually cut it; they just perforated it. I had to open my eye really big and I had a lot of pressure on my head. The right eye (first one they did) didn't hurt. I could just feel the pressure. The left eye was the one I could have sworn I felt. It hurt. And it may have not been that it hurt- it was just really uncomfortable and... well... yea, it hurt. After that was done I was able to get up and walk to a room to wait for the second part. I'm pretty sure I was white as a ghost. I was able to feel around for the trashcan because I just knew I was going to vomit. No nurses came by for about 15 minutes-- I was in a cold sweat and light headed. It was bad. I never throw up-- never really get like that. But it was crazy! When they finally came in to see how I was i told them had they come 5 minutes earlier that I would have probably puked on them. It took a LOT of self calming and breathing to keep from yaking (or passing out). Luckily I took that birthing class when I was pregnant with Kensley. (lol) They finally took me in the last room. Here, they raised the flap and let the laser do it's business! This was weird. I didn't feel anything, but I could smell it burning my cornea. Crazy, right? The laser was on each eye for 31 seconds. Probably the worst part of that was when they were smoothing out the flap with a little utensil. They put some water on it and then rubbed it smooth for, what it seemed like, forever. It was over and I was able to sit up and make out what was on the clock. AHH!
On the way home (one of my dear friends let me stay in her garage apartment for the night) I couldn't even open my eyes. It was miserable. My eyes were constantly watering. They were very sensitive to light. I was able to fall asleep for a bit and when I woke up, they were a lot better. I am now a little over 3 weeks out. My eyes are still not 100% but they are pretty dang close. He said that my right eye had a little more swelling in it (this explains the reason my left eye is a lot clearer than my right). He has total confidence that my eyes will heal 100% in a couple more months.
I wanted to document my story because, well, this was a HUGE thing to me. I was just about blind, seriously. Perfect vision is 20/20. My vision in both eyes was 20/400. I.could.not.see. Not having to take contacts out at night and put them in in the mornings... not having to worry about running out of contact solution... not having to worry about leaving contact solution at home when we're visiting friends and having to make a special trip to the store for some or bug everyone to see if anyone had any.... not having to remember to take my glasses with me every trip I made... all of those things are no longer a part of my life. It's GREAT. All the crazy things that went on that day-- it was all worth it. I am SO thankful Kent let me get this done.
Here is a funny picture. The night after I had the surgery. These goggles are hot, huh?
