Geting Lasik (PRK) eye surgery tomorrow - Words of Wisdom. Read Only. No more posting. - PlanetChristmas! Forums. Read Only. We've moved to http://talk.planetchristmas.com - The Forums of PlanetChristmas have moved to http://talk.PlanetChristmas.com
While my eyes still hurt reading the monitor, I can see the keyboard a little easier. So if I miss spell, tough .
I had to take off a couple days from the computer because I couldn't stand not reading and the intense brightness. The PRK is an animal to recon with. Have patience and try to sleep. Niehter I like to do a lot of.
Today I was able to sit around without my sunglasses on. I take my drops as the doctor ordered and listen to music. Yes, I'm listening to what I hope to sequence later. It's been a very slow process. I can't rub my eyes, I can't hardly read the paper and I watch blurry TV. BUT, it's getting a little better each day. The main gripe is wearing contacts to protect my eyeballs. My eye lids are killing me. I've never worn contacts before so I can feel them evey time I blink. But Aleve does helps. The meds they originally gave me made me kinda sick to the tummy.
I can see better as a whole and the doc said when I get my contacts out, I will notice a bigger change. That will happen Tuesday. I've watched a lot of TV and my lazyboy has been a dear friend to me, espeically for the driops 4 times a day.
The hard part is over I think. Now it's just a matter of time, gosh it better be
Anyway, I want to say thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers (fromt eh ones I could read). It's a really nice feeling, it really is.
Back to the doctor on tueasday, till then, time for some more drops.
talk to you soon.
Tom
P.S. I'm not even going to try to proof read this thing :0, it still kind painful.
Last edited on Monday March 31st, 2008 03:06 am by Santas Helper
Tom, hopefully they get better every day. Who cares if you misspell some words. Dont we all from time to time?
Maybe you are feeling the contacts because of the sandy feel in the eyes. The first time I put contacts in I didnt feel them. When they dry out I do, which I do have dry eyes so drops sure help that a lot. maybe when I get mine done I will have to plan a vacation on the beach. I wont be able to stand not being on the computer for more than a few days along with other things.
Thanks again for all the kind words, prayers and thoughts.
Well I got those stinking contacts out today and my eyes feel better. But my vision is still a little blurry. The doc said by the time Paul Sessel ships your LEDs , your vision will get better (heck that's over another month, I hope they get better ), and they are, a little at a time. The sensitivity isn't as bad but I still use only little time on the computer. The squinting gets old fast.
A short little note on how the procedure went. I was more scared of the procedure than I should have been. The doc explained every little detail going on during the surgery and told me what I would expect. That was very comforting and eased my nervousness some along with the Valium. First, he numbs your eyes, taps back the eye lids and puts in a retainer to keep you from blinking. Then he applies a small rotating brush like thing to scare the surface of the eye. Then he puts the machine over your eye and tells you to focus on a red light. 30 seconds later my left eye was done. I could smell just a hint of flesh/tissue during during that time. Then comes the right eye. He numbed it up again just to make sure and the laser process took about 45 seconds because of the amount of astigmatism (my worst eye). Then it was done. I thought, that wasn't so bad. After each eye, he swabbed and sprayed water to clean them out. From start to finish, I bet I wasn't in the chair longer than 5 or so minutes. The actual procedure was much better than I originally was nervously thinking it was. Then he plopped in the protective contacts gave me some drops and I was off on my way. The next day he saw me and said everything looked great, then 5 days later (today), the contacts were removed.
Probably everything I just described is the same for the basic Lasik except the contacts are used with PRK along with longer healing time. I'm happy with this so far. Even though my eyes are little blurry/hazy, I can still see better than without my perscription glasses. Heck I put them on earlier and it was really blurry. So yeah, I'm happy.
Just a note, if you have to get the PRK version, plan to be off 5 or more days, especially if you have an office or driving job. Don't plan to drive either. I could probably take tomorrow off (my 6th day) but I'm going in and see if I can put in a full day, something I haven't done in quite some time . Each person is different with their ability to heal so it might be less or more, just keep that in mind.
Anyway, there you have it. Probably the most important thing is rent out movies BEFORE you get it done. Lots of movies. I didn't and just relied on TV shows which sometimes was pretty boring.
Again, I thank you for everyone and their thoughts, prayers and kind words.
I'm sure I left something out but hope this helps others thinking about getting Lasik/Lasik PRK done.
Oh, LASIK PLUS is where I had my eyes done and they have 18 months free financing or longer terms with small rates. Check it out as I know I didn't have the funds to pay for it up front Heck, I have the LOR sale comming up .
If you're thinking about it and need it, then do it!!!
Edit: during the procedure, I didn't feel hardly any pain. Just wanted to add that in for the ones thinking about getting it done.
Tom
Last edited on Wednesday April 2nd, 2008 02:49 am by Santas Helper
Glad to hear you are up and back at it! I wonder if you couldn't have gotten it via the Guard, probably not. Mine were done at Wilford Hall. There's hardly any AF people in SA with glasses or contacts anymore! One of my guys had it and six months later was deployed to the desert. He was so happy not having to wear the inserts and could waer normal sunglasses.
Glad to hear you are up and back at it! I wonder if you couldn't have gotten it via the Guard, probably not. Mine were done at Wilford Hall. There's hardly any AF people in SA with glasses or contacts anymore! One of my guys had it and six months later was deployed to the desert. He was so happy not having to wear the inserts and could waer normal sunglasses.
Thanks Jeff,
If only the Guard paid for it... Since I'm civil service, I have to rely on local insurance to pay for it, which I'll submit once I get the bill. Hopefully Blue Cross/Blue Shield sees it my way .
If I were AGR, the military would have done it for free or cheap anyway if I traveled down south. Maybe I should have been put on orders .
Yes, normal sunglasses is what I'm looking forward to if it ever stops raining here .
For us if you are not located with a RK center like Lackland, it is a permissive TDY and you have to stay a week. Lackland does a good job of greasing the wheels though for billeting.
Tom, I'm glad it went well for you. I've been thinking about getting Lasik for the past two years..would love to be able to not wear glasses or contacts.
Would appreciate you posting again once you're all finished healing..I'm hoping you'll be a good guinea pig. The thought of having them tape my eyelids back, using a little wheel..yioooow, sounds kinda nasty? The pain part doesn't really bother me, but not being able to blink does (weird, eh?)
It's been 2 weeks now since I had my eyes done and things are much better. My eyes are still healing so I don't have 20/20 (yet) but I can see clearer and the computer doesn't hurt my eyes anymore.
You'll be glad you got it done.
Tom
Last edited on Thursday April 10th, 2008 11:31 am by Santas Helper
Well the surgery itself went very well! Had a bit of a problem afterwards though...
This morning as the pain killers wore off my left eye started to hurt. It just started getting bad while I was at the doctor's for a follow-up. He said that was normal for me to have a bit of discomfort, put a few numbing drops in it and sent me on my way. An hour later I was crying out in pain, and my fiancée took me back to the doctor's. Turns out the protective contact lens was inside out! The doctor flipped it and now I feel fantastic! My vision is pretty good, just a bit blurry. I had 20/40 when he checked this morning. He said it'll get worse tomorrow, then better the next day.
That's great to hear you're feeling better after the painful lens issue. I took Aleve after a couple days and then stopped taking it a couple days later. Now I just put a million drops in each eye every day. That part is kinda getting old .
How is your vision. I had PRK done two weeks ago tomorrow and I'm still quite out of focus. I can see shapes ok but reading is till difficult and I can't seem to get focused yet. Just looking for some comparisons.
How is your vision. I had PRK done two weeks ago tomorrow and I'm still quite out of focus. I can see shapes ok but reading is till difficult and I can't seem to get focused yet. Just looking for some comparisons.
James
Hey James,
I'm in the same boat as you. I can see but still have a little blurriness. It's not really bad but enough to squint a little trying to adjust. I'm still doing my 2 different drops 4 times a day but the moisture drops I haven't done because my eyes haven't been drying out. Lets stay in touch since we both seem to be in the same boat. Speaking of boat, I watched a full day of season 3, "Deadliest Catch". Awesome show even if it is a touch blurry . I would love to do that for one day, just one good day.
I was watching (squinting) the same thing. DC is one of my favorite channels and deadliest catch was totaly awesome!
I see the doctor tomorrow afternoon. As of last Wed. I was seeing 20/50 in both eyes. I got mono vision as I wore bifocals and I didn't want to wear reading glasses. I'm just hoping for some improvement.
I'm down to just one drop (PRED FORTE) 3x daily. I do moisture drops tons as my eyes are a little dry.
James
Last edited on Monday April 14th, 2008 03:14 am by James Peachee
How is your vision. I had PRK done two weeks ago tomorrow and I'm still quite out of focus. I can see shapes ok but reading is till difficult and I can't seem to get focused yet. Just looking for some comparisons.
James
Speaking of boat, I watched a full day of season 3, "Deadliest Catch". Awesome show even if it is a touch blurry . I would love to do that for one day, just one good day.
Tom
Hey Tom, glad to hear you are feeling better! Same here, although I can see just fine, I had nothing better to do except watch Discovery all day.
The thought about myself wanting to do that has also crossed my mind, but for more then one reasons, me not liking the cold, (I prefer 100deg over 32deg) is the number one reason. But I did think it would make an AWESOME ride! Remember the part in Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo, where they found each other but got caught up in the fishing net (SWIM DOWN!)? Yea, Disney can tell the story from the fisherman's perspective, before they got to Sidney. I know its a long stretch, possibly better for Universal or Disney's Hollywood Studios, but its one of my good ideas......
.
, your vision will get better (heck that's over another month, I hope they get better 
), and they are, a little at a time. The sensitivity isn't as bad but I still use only little time on the computer. The squinting gets old fast.
. Each person is different with their ability to heal so it might be less or more, just keep that in mind.
.
![:]](/images/emoticons/big_grin.gif)
One of my guys had it and six months later was deployed to the desert. He was so happy not having to wear the inserts and could waer normal sunglasses. 
. 
