Day 4 (night)

12:30am - I'm wide awake as usual.  I've been sleeping in every day and staying up late to make the most of my new vision. Just in case more fluctuation occurs and I'm not able to see.  I think I have passed that point but I just want to make sure.  If I'm stable tomorrow I'll return to my regular routine and head to work after the bandage contact is removed on Tuesday morning.  

My eyes were supposed to be the worst yesterday (or today) but I've been completely fine. I had a great and amazing day.  No fluctuation at all since I woke up - a solid 14+ hours of stable vision with no change.  Usually my eyes would get tired by now but that doesn't seem to be the case.:)  Again I should note that they are definitely not close to perfect.  I still have that 'greasy contact' vision and objects are not completely crisp.  But the distance is there.  Close up pretty good.  Anyway, let me know if you need me to elaborate more. 

Lights around me are fine with no halos anymore. LED lights have no star bursts. I even moved the bandage contact around in my left eye because it felt a little off center. 

I know that I'm not reporting anything significant but I think it's important to check in even when nothing is wrong.  People need to read about the good results from PRK surgery.  Especially early on when it can be pretty bad.

My experience so far has been really positive.  I am slightly shocked that I feel so good.  Maybe all the negative blogs/stories/nightmares I read about set me up for a good experience.  

I'm going to finish up the rest of my computer research and head to bed. :)

Day 4 (afternoon)

3pm- I woke up this morning with my fingers crossed.  When I opened my eyes I looked around and distance vision was back again!  Everything seemed a lot clearer and even crisper than it had been.  My right eye is definitely a little sharper than the left. There was no stinging, burning, discomfort.  They felt normal!   Such a change from even 8 hours before when everything was a blur.  When the doctors say your vision fluctuates it really fluctuates.

I started my morning regimen with the 4 sets of drops.  I dropped one of the bottles and it rolled underneath the bed.  I had to look under the bed and saw it off in the distance behind a power cord.  I grabbed for it and then it occurred to me.... I COULD SEE!  It sounds so funny to say.  But if you are/were as blind as I was, this is a miracle.  Just being able to do that simple task without glasses or contacts amazes me. :)

It's nice and sunny out today so I pulled up the blinds and the sun came shining in.  No light sensitivity.  Nice!  I checked my phone for messages and answered a few texts.  Close up vision fine.  Computer vision fine, no need to blow up the screen today. 

Everything on day 4 is coming along quite nicely.  I'll spend the day redesigning some of the blog (because I realize the type is too small since my screen has been blown up- haha) and doing some research I've been putting off.  


I'll probably go out on the porch (without sunglasses) to enjoy the day.  :)

Day 3 (evening)

11:30pm -  A quick update before bed tonight.  Vision was pretty stable through the evening until about 2 hours ago.  It seems I've lost my distance vision.  Everything far away is blurry like I never got my eyes done at all.  I could probably put my old glasses on to get around.  Still star bursts around small LEDs but no halos around lamps.  The double vision is gone as well as any light sensitivity. I have zero pain.  I can see the computer, cellphone, books and anything else close up.  

I would rather see far and blurry like earlier today.  This just seems like I didn't even get the PRK done at all.  But this is part of the drill.  "The vision you experience during the first 2 days will become blurrier and more distorted on the third day."  I need to keep reading that until I pass the 72 hour mark tomorrow around 5pm. Again - this is part of the drill.  I'll listen to SNL from the couch and go to bed soon.  Enough for the day. 

Day 3 (afternoon)

3pm- My eyes actually got better fairly quickly after I took my painkillers and drops.  I ate some food and laid down and then went back to the computer about an hour later and things seemed fine.  No more burning and stinging and it felt like the 'eyelash' that I had in each eye disappeared.  Vision is still somewhat blurry but to the level that was last night.  Star bursts and halos are still present but not annoying.  

I can't believe I've been able to get back on the computer and use my phone to text.  This morning I was sure I was done for the day.  Maybe just needed some time to adjust but I've heard eyes normally get worse as the day goes on, not better.  

Also, light sensitivity also disappeared around the time I could use the computer again (about an hour after I posted - 11am).  I was just doing some laundry and organizing some things in my room.  The pictures below shows how bright it was since it stopped raining.  I didn't need sunglasses and didn't need to squint being in the room and doing things.  I was even looking around outside.  Amazing. 

A surprising turn for the best this afternoon!  I'm off to do more cleaning and maybe go outside for a walk and some fresh air.  :)

Day 3 (morning)

10am- I woke up with my goggles on with my eyes stinging and burning.  All I could see was blurred objects.  5x blurrier than when I went to bed last night.  The room was pretty dark (it's raining and we're surrounded by redwood trees) but that doesn't seem to matter.  Air and light are my enemy right now.  On go the post-op sunglasses.

I knew this was coming.  Hyver's office even underlined the following in the post-op instructions: "The vision you experience in the first 2 days will become blurrier and more distorted the third day." Why did I think I would be different?  All I want to do is rub my eyes for a few minutes.  But  I actually can't rub my eyes for 2 months. Shit.

As I write this, I am putting in all my drops and I just took some painkillers.  I can't really read the bottles but I've memorized the colors so I know which is which.  Maybe they will help?  There are emergency comfort drops they gave me but they are only to be used after calling the doctor's office.  Comfort drops are apparently the numbing drops they used in surgery.  But I read that it slows recovery so I'm going to avoid unless it gets worse than this.

To summarize the morning of day 3- burning, stinging pain in the eyes with the feeling that you have eyelashes stuck in each eye that you're not allowed to get out.  Extreme light sensitivity to the point you need to close your eyes for relief (even with sunglasses on).  Extremely blurred vision like the picture I posted last night but 5x worse.

I'm typing this with my eyes closed so I hope there aren't too many typos.  If there are I will correct them later.  I'm an Exec Asst by day so I should be able to type with my eyes closed anyway. ;)

Day 2 (evening)

The day for the most part was great!  I was telling everyone how amazing I felt and how well I could see things.  I spent most of the day on the computer doing work (and on my standard screen size).  I was pretty shocked.  I even called Dr. Hyver's office to make sure that being on a computer wouldn't set me back with the healing.  They said it was fine - I could do anything that I could handle.  But then they cautioned, "Please be aware that your vision will definitely be fluctuating in the next few days." It made me think...it is really only 24 hours after surgery so it's not yet day 2...

But in comparison to other people's blogs, I still seem to be on a fast track.  Or maybe I'm just more tolerable?  I'm staying on the Vicodin for a few days so I can stop any pain before it arrives.

My coworkers were telling me to get off the computer but since I was doing no harm I kept up on emails and other outstanding items during the day.  I got a call and the below arrived.  I really work with the best. :)  I'm happy tomorrow is Saturday and I have a few days off work with no temptation to keep up with work.

I love my coworkers and my boss - this made my day.  And I can SEE it! :)

My vision started to change around 6pm tonight.  I noticed that even having distance vision back it was blurry.  Not like it was before surgery where things are completely unrecognizable but from the table in front of me to the tree out the window down the street, all had the same degree of blurriness.  Does that make sense?  It is so hard to explain. I saw someone post somewhere that it was like trying to see through a greasy contact.  that's probably a pretty accurate description. 

Starbursts

 The star bursts have started as well with small bright LED lights.  Looks like the picture on the right.  It doesn't really bother me.  It's kind of pretty actually.  :)

How I see things tonight

Right now it's pretty late so my eyes are tired and I'm seeing even more blurs and a little bit of double vision.  The picture to the left is how I am seeing things right now. Its not so bad because it goes in and out.  It's still better than it was walking around without my contacts or glasses.  I'll take it for now.  I know it's only going to get better over the next few weeks.  I honestly feel pretty calm about it.  I think because I was ready for this.

I walked out of Hyver's office with perfect vision.  He did his part and now it's my cornea's job to grow back.  I've had a lot of people approach me already about my experience and expressing some interest in getting PRK/Lasik done in the future. 


I'm not even in the clear yet but I'm already asking myself why I didn't do this sooner. I'm in a wonderful state of mind and can't wait to wake up tomorrow.  Hopefully showing more progress!

Day 2 (morning)

I woke up this morning and I COULD SEE!!! Sorry... haha.  I guess this is something that I need to get used to. :)

When I opened my eyes after a 9 hour sleep they felt normal for the most part.  I have heard stories about people having their eyes stuck shut overnight but I had none of that.  Besides waking up with my cool goggles, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  But I should note that even though I can see as good as when I had my contacts, it's a bit blurry at times and things aren't totally sharp like they will be eventually.  But the distance sight is there.  I could probably drive too without a problem if I had to. This is to be expected for a little while and was explained to me before and after surgery so it's no surprise. 

With the computer, I notice that even on the lowest brightness display can be difficult.  After about 10 minutes it's hard to keep my eyes open.  It's like I'm increasingly cutting onions until it gets unbearable.  Then I go off to do something else and they get 'normal' again.  I'm on a computer 5 days a week all day so I should be using this time off work to stay away from one!  But I want to keep this blog updated as things are happening.  And I'm kinda bored already.  I've cleaned out all the kitchen cabinets and ready to move on to something else when I'm done. :)

No pain yet at all but I took a Vicodin as a precaution.  To be honest, I don't think I need it.  More later in the PM.  For now, it's all good!