I’ve always had 20/20 vision, until I didn’t. My eyes blurred everything up close and I ended up placing reading glasses in every room so that I could grab them if I needed to read. I tolerated this for about ten years. At my recent annual checkup, I asked the doctor about Lasik surgery. She said that instead, I was a candidate for cataract surgery and could have corrected lenses inserted at that time under my insurance. The caveat was that my left eye would see far and my right eye would see close up. It would take my brain time to get used to this and about 60% of the people who had it done liked it. Or, I could pay about $5,000 to have both eyes see the same. Whichever procedure I chose, would be final. I wouldn’t be able to undo the lenses. I opted for the free insurance surgery. There would be two surgery dates, first for the left eye, followed by surgery on the right eye three weeks later.
On the day of the surgery, I had to fast for eight hours. Not even allowing for water. At the office were several other people. Each of us had a designated driver that had to stay in the waiting room for the entire three hours it would take to complete the procedure. Oddly, they had televisions in the waiting area and the channel was set for an animal station where polar bears were chasing, killing and eating baby penguins. Anyhow, when it was my turn, I was taken to a small room where I was asked a lot of questions and a purple X was placed on my skin above the left eye. Then I was taken to a staging area where there were four gurneys lined up with curtains separating each one. I laid down as was directed and I placed a hair cap on my head to keep the hair away from my face. The doctor came by and confirmed that I wanted to do this, which I confirmed. Then an anesthesiologist came in and inserted a substance into an IV that was in a vein in my left hand. I was told that I would be awake but the substance would make me not care about anything. After a few minutes I was wheeled into an operating room where they taped my eye open. I saw two bright, small lights in the shape of squares. But I felt nothing, and I didn’t have the urge to try to blink. Just a few minutes later I was wheeled out into a recovery area and helped to get up from the gurney to a recliner-like chair. I was offered crackers and water. My husband was called and drove the car to a side door that led to me. When I got up to leave, I was a little dizzy and held onto his arm for balance. I was given sunglasses that shielded light from all sides. He asked where I would like to go for lunch and I selected Chili’s Grill & Bar as I was craving their chicken tortilla soup. The lights were so bright that I had to keep my sunglasses on inside.
Everything looked very bright and blurry. But amazingly, I could read the menu at Chili’s without my reading glasses! At home, I looked in the mirror and realized the purple X was still on my forehead, it took a while to get it to come off. The next day I was able to drive myself back to the doctor for a checkup. He said everything was fine.
Three weeks later I went in to repeat the process for the right eye. This time, I asked for rubbing alcohol to remove the purple X before going out to eat afterwards. This time my husband took me to Westwood’s BBQ & Spice Co which is a delicious locally owned restaurant.
I was able to get rid of all my glasses and can now see clearly without them. I would totally do it again knowing what I know now. However, I would also have paid the $5,000 for 20/20 in both eyes because there are times when something (like the head of someone sitting in front of me) is blocking one eye and that’s the one I need to use at that moment.
At my follow-up appointment, she gave me a new prescription for glasses for times when I needed both eyes to behave the same. The person who fitted me said that I should wear them all the time to protect my good eye. She pointed out that if the good eye was damaged, I would only have the bad eye to see. Hmmmm, that would have been good to know before I’d done all this. But I don’t have any intention of using glasses all the time, that was not the point of this procedure. It’s been over a month now and I still find myself reaching for glasses when I want to read something. I had seven pairs of glasses placed in strategic places throughout the house. Now, they’re in a bag tucked away in a closet. I’m sure they’ll be donated to charity once I stop mindlessly reaching for them.
On the day of the surgery, I had to fast for eight hours. Not even allowing for water. At the office were several other people. Each of us had a designated driver that had to stay in the waiting room for the entire three hours it would take to complete the procedure. Oddly, they had televisions in the waiting area and the channel was set for an animal station where polar bears were chasing, killing and eating baby penguins. Anyhow, when it was my turn, I was taken to a small room where I was asked a lot of questions and a purple X was placed on my skin above the left eye. Then I was taken to a staging area where there were four gurneys lined up with curtains separating each one. I laid down as was directed and I placed a hair cap on my head to keep the hair away from my face. The doctor came by and confirmed that I wanted to do this, which I confirmed. Then an anesthesiologist came in and inserted a substance into an IV that was in a vein in my left hand. I was told that I would be awake but the substance would make me not care about anything. After a few minutes I was wheeled into an operating room where they taped my eye open. I saw two bright, small lights in the shape of squares. But I felt nothing, and I didn’t have the urge to try to blink. Just a few minutes later I was wheeled out into a recovery area and helped to get up from the gurney to a recliner-like chair. I was offered crackers and water. My husband was called and drove the car to a side door that led to me. When I got up to leave, I was a little dizzy and held onto his arm for balance. I was given sunglasses that shielded light from all sides. He asked where I would like to go for lunch and I selected Chili’s Grill & Bar as I was craving their chicken tortilla soup. The lights were so bright that I had to keep my sunglasses on inside.
Everything looked very bright and blurry. But amazingly, I could read the menu at Chili’s without my reading glasses! At home, I looked in the mirror and realized the purple X was still on my forehead, it took a while to get it to come off. The next day I was able to drive myself back to the doctor for a checkup. He said everything was fine.
Three weeks later I went in to repeat the process for the right eye. This time, I asked for rubbing alcohol to remove the purple X before going out to eat afterwards. This time my husband took me to Westwood’s BBQ & Spice Co which is a delicious locally owned restaurant.
I was able to get rid of all my glasses and can now see clearly without them. I would totally do it again knowing what I know now. However, I would also have paid the $5,000 for 20/20 in both eyes because there are times when something (like the head of someone sitting in front of me) is blocking one eye and that’s the one I need to use at that moment.
At my follow-up appointment, she gave me a new prescription for glasses for times when I needed both eyes to behave the same. The person who fitted me said that I should wear them all the time to protect my good eye. She pointed out that if the good eye was damaged, I would only have the bad eye to see. Hmmmm, that would have been good to know before I’d done all this. But I don’t have any intention of using glasses all the time, that was not the point of this procedure. It’s been over a month now and I still find myself reaching for glasses when I want to read something. I had seven pairs of glasses placed in strategic places throughout the house. Now, they’re in a bag tucked away in a closet. I’m sure they’ll be donated to charity once I stop mindlessly reaching for them.
RSS Feed