Last Thursday was my surgery day. I had PRK done – they do that for about 95% of soldiers instead of LASIK. It’s because there is a long-term risk of the flap in LASIK coming undone down the road. Any trauma to the head could cause problems with the flap, and what are soldiers exposed to everyday? So they do PRK on us. We showed up at the hospital about 7:30 and were given lots of eyedrops to numb and dilate our eyes. Then we had to just sit and wait until we were enough dilated for them to do the surgery. I was 4th of the Ft. Drum group to go (there were 5 of us). I was in the surgical room for less than 15 minutes. I was given more eye drops of various kinds, the surgeon made 2 marks at 3 and 9 o’clock on my right eye because of my astigmatism. That way they could line the laser up perfectly on the right axis even if my head wasn’t perfectly straight when I laid down. Then I laid down and I had less than 30 seconds of laser on each eye and then it was done. They did the right eye first, and then the left. For prep, they taped my eyelashes and then used a little metal thing to hold my eyelid open. Then the surgeon took what looked like one of the dentist’s electric toothbrushes and used it to remove the epithelials from my eye. That was rather uncomfortable. I didn’t feel pain, but I could feel the pressure. And I could see it. After the laser was done, they flushed the eye with a saline solution and put more eyedrops in- antibiotics and pain ones. Then they put a clear contact on to help with the healing of the epithelials – it’s basically a band-aid for your eye. After they were done with both eyes, I sat up and I could clearly see the clock across the room.
Once everyone was done, we went back to the hotel and I went to bed. I slept most of the rest of the day and the next morning. I did call Ryan and Mom (tried to call Dad, but couldn’t see my cell phone very well and thought I called his cell phone but I called his shop phone) before I went to sleep. When I would wake up, I’d do more eye drops and more percocet, and then it was back to sleep. But my left eye was in major pain. We finally ended up calling the optometrist on call for that night, and since he lived about 2 miles from our hotel, he stopped by and checked my eye out. He did give me another kind of drop in my left eye and that numbed it so it wouldn’t hurt. He said everything looked ok and that some people just have extreme pain in one eye and none in the other. I took 2 percocet after that and slept all night.
Friday afternoon was our first post-op checkup. My left eye was still hurting some, but not nearly what it had been. My right eye is healing faster than my left eye, but everything looked normal. Once I got back to the hotel, I slept some more. I think it was Friday night that I talked to Rick for an hour on the phone. That was nice! I did manage to crochet for 15 minutes on Friday, so that was nice.
Saturday and Sunday were just resting days. I didn’t sleep as much, and I was starting to see a little better – right eye was mostly clear but my left eye was still really blurry. I watched the NASCAR race Saturday night and I crocheted a little more both days. I made phone calls to Mom & Dad both nights, and I talked to my Grandma in there one night. And I talked to Grandpa one night, but I don’t remember when.
Monday morning was our 2nd post-op check and my right eye was at about 20/30 or so vision. My left eye hadn’t healed as much as they’d like to see, but still normal. We were released and headed home. I read a magazine a little on the way home, but mostly just sat. I got home about 5:15 and my guys were waiting for me. Robbie came running across the yard in his socks to give me big hugs, and Ryan was right behind him. They were both glad to see me. After I had settled in a for a little bit, we headed into Watertown to eat and get Robbie new shoes. His old ones were really soggy from playing out in the puddles the day before.
This morning I went to the optometry clinic on post for another checkup. My left eye pretty much looks the same as it did yesterday. The optometrist put me on quarters for the day and I came home and slept most of the day. When Ryan and Robbie got home, we walked to the local pizza place for supper. It sure was a beautiful day for a walk. Then we played some when we got home. After Robbie was in bed, I crocheted and we watched a little bit of TV.
I’m heading to bed now to rest my eyes.
High: 54
Low: 38
armytbonegirl 