All of my life, I’ve had terrible vision: high myopia, high-order aberrations and astigmatism. I’ve worn glasses my whole life, and I’ve been using daily disposable contact lenses for years. As I looked down at all of those boxes of contact lenses, I started to wonder what I would do about this once I leave on a sailboat for life at sea.
The Challenge
Here’s my challenge. My disposable contact lenses take up a lot of space and create a lot of unnecessary waste. Yet, I’ve found that glasses aren’t really ideal either. On a hot day, they slip down my nose from sweat. They fog up in temperature transition. Plus, they aren’t ideal for photography. Yet, I can’t really see without some sort of corrective device. Or, can I?
In that moment, I added an item to my Learning Agenda:
Determine if I’m a candidate for Lasik surgery.
Instead of putting in my contact lenses that day, I scheduled an appointment with LasikPlus for a pre-operative evaluation.
My Lasik Evaluation
On the day of my lasik evaluation, I learned a lot about my eyes. They tested my visual acuity, refraction, retinal health and corneal thickness. My doctor asked a lot of questions about my vocation and hobbies, and we discussed the risks and benefits in this context.
After a lengthy examination, my surgeon confirmed that I am a candidate for vision correction. Due to high myopia, he recommended Wavefront-Guided Lasik for my procedure.
Going for It
I headed back to LasikPlus the following Friday afternoon for my procedure. Although I was a little bit nervous, I declined the offer for a mild sedative. When they told me that I wouldn’t feel any pain during the procedure, I chose to believe them. This is an opportunity that I would only have once in my life. I wanted to be fully present for the moment my eyes are corrected!
As I walked into the surgical suite, Dr. Allen took one last look at my eyes just before we got started. He grabbed my glasses and put them into my bag. He smiled at me as he said, “You’ll never need these again.”
Next, he asked me to lay down underneath a large piece of medical equipment. His assistant, Allie, put numbing drops in my eyes. My heart quickly filled with a mixture of emotions. I can’t believe this moment is really happening!
Placing My Faith In Others
Allie handed me a big ol’ stuffed animal to hug during the procedure. Yes, I am adult. And yes, I found this incredibly comforting. I took a deep breath and put all of my faith into the surgeon as he placed a soft ring on my eye to hold it in place.
As promised, I soon felt just the slightest pressure on my eye as everything went white. This experience was definitely strange, but it wasn’t all that big of a deal. Thanks to Dr. Allen’s guidance, I knew what to expect. I believed that my vision would be back and better than ever within five minutes.
Allie and Dr. Allen then guided me over to the Wavefront-Guided Lasik system. I laid back down, and the surgeon got to work. Once again, I put my faith fully in this highly skilled medical team. I chose to focus on my breath to help keep myself as still as possible.
The Lasik Christmas Disco
As I calmly breathed in and out, I looked ahead as a green blob of light with large spinning blobs of red flashed before my eyes. It was a Lasik Christmas Disco! When I caught a whiff of burned hair, I knew these lasers were working to correct my vision.
From my point of view, this whole experience was pretty interesting and a little trippy. I fully expected to be scared during this part of the procedure. My own reaction surprised me. Instead of being scared, I was actually quite excited. In this very moment, these lasers were giving me the gift of vision. It’s incredible, really!
I agreed to live stream this portion of my procedure this on Facebook. If you’re curious about Lasik and you’re not all that squeamish, feel free to check it out:
Within moments, the procedure was done. I sat up, and I looked around for the first time. Oh my gosh! I could see across the room! Don’t get me wrong, everything was a bit hazy. Even through the haze, I could see better than ever before without correction!
Here’s a post-op snapshot of me smiling with Dr. Allen:
My Uneventful Recovery
My boyfriend picked me up after the procedure and brought me home. He kindly drew all of the blinds at home to minimize light intrusion. Before he headed off to work, he brought me a nice tall glass of iced tea. That night, I rested my eyes while laying in bed for about four hours.
While I’ve heard lots of horror stories about burning, I didn’t experience any of that myself. My eyes watered a bit, and I had a few very mild waves of stinging that went away as fast as they came.
For me, the hardest part of recovery was boredom. No TV. No social media. No books. No cat cuddles. No nothing. I rested quietly in the dark with my eyes closed for hours. To help with the time passage, I listened to music and audiobooks. Because I had to lay off my eyes, I definitely appreciated all of my voice-enabled devices. Alexa and Google Assistant sure do come in handy at times like these. Boredom is a small price to pay for vision!
Better Than Perfect
When I woke up the next day, I had perfect vision. Incredible! At my follow-up exam less than 16 hours after my procedure, I learned that my vision corrected to 20/15. So, technically, I now have better than perfect vision. I can see with my REAL EYES. No glasses, no contacts!
I CAN SEE WITH MY REAL EYES!
After my appointment, I hopped in my car and drove over to Starbucks. I enjoyed looking around the cafe as I sipped on my iced coffee–sweetened with stevia and an extra splash of soy, of course!
As I write this post, I’m still within 48 hours of my Lasik procedure. I’m told that my vision will continue to get better and better over the next 6 months as my eyes continue to heal. I have not a single regret. I’ve been drowning my eyes in various eye drops to prevent inflammation, infection and dry eye. Because I am following the guidelines provided by my surgeon, these drops are doing their job!
Strange and Miraculous
Yes, the whole experience was a little strange. It required me to let go of my anxiety and put all of my faith in the surgeon. Yet, I never experienced any meaningful discomfort during the procedure or the recovery. Maybe I have a high pain tolerance, or maybe I’m just lucky. Either way, I’ll take it!
I have to admit, I am still completely blown away right now by my experience. When I open my eyes, I can’t believe that I can just see! I went from having high myopia, presbyopia, high-order aberrations and astigmatism to having 20/15 vision overnight. Truth be told, I don’t even know what to do with that.
It’s a miracle, really.
