I can See!

For nearly as long as I can remember, I have worn first glasses and then contacts.  I really don't like glasses, they have always given me headaches and so I started wearing contacts when I was 12!  As the years have gone on, my eyesight has gotten worse and worse.  This past year, I have had a lot of problems with my eyes, including completely red eyes for nearly 6 months.  After going to several doctors and specialists, they finally determined that I had dry eyes from wearing contacts for so long and that I should go without wearing them.  This is just something I couldn't do. I can't function very well wearing just glasses.  So, the doctor suggested I see if I could qualify for lasik surgery.  After going through the assessment process, I was approved for the SMILE procedure (similar to lasik, but less invasive) and scheduled for surgery July 2nd!  The last assessment put my eyesight at -8.50 and -8.75, which is pretty bad.  I did a search on the internet for examples of what this eyesight would look like, so you can see how bad it was.  The top picture gives you an idea of how bad my eyesight is, but I would say these aren't as bad. Yikes! 

So, on the 2nd I went in for surgery.  It was definitely not the most pleasant experience.  They gave me a sedative to help me relax, which I can't say worked that well.  Then they cleaned my eyes and put anesthetic eye drops in.  The doctor then taped my top eyelashes up and then put this thing in my eye to keep it open.  He then attached my eye to the laser, which felt like it was going to pop my eyeball.  The laser made a cut and after that I couldn't really see much.  The doctor then used his tools to go into the cut and pull out and flatten the extra tissue that distorted my eyesight.  Gross, yeah.  Not necessarily painful, but such a yucky feeling!  The right eye went really quickly.  The left eye, he had a hard time getting it hooked up to the laser and also had a difficult time with the rest of the procedure.  It was pretty uncomfortable feeling and kind of painful toward the end.  It probably took at least twice as long to get the 2nd eye done. 
After that, they had me rest with my eyes closed for a few minutes and then sent me home to sleep.  By that night, I could already start to see out of my right eye, but my left eye was just a big massive blur.  I was a little concerned, but it wasn't until the next morning when i could see really well out of my right eye and still nothing out of my left, and my left eye hurt.  I really panicked for a few minutes.  I went to the doctor that morning where he diagnosed a complication dealing with fluid under the top layer of my eye, which was distorting the sight.  He put a contact on my eye to help with the pain and basically said to just wait.  So for several days, I felt pretty icky and worried about my eye, but it eventually cleared up and now I can see! 
I would say my eyesight is nearly perfect.  Maybe not quite as sharp at times as I would like, but pretty darn good!  I do feel like my night vision is a little rough, car lights have big halo's around them and when I go into big stores, maybe it's the lighting, but i feel like things are a little more blurry.  But overall, it's really great!  I can see!  I still can't get over the feeling of not having to take contacts out at night and I still reach for my glasses in the morning.  I panic a little when I realize they aren't there, but when I open my eyes, I can see! 

 I'm pretty embarrassed posting these pictures, but oh well.  I wore an eye patch for just 1 day.  It was hard to keep my left eye open when I couldn't see out of it and it was painful.  The contact helped so much, that I really didn't need the eye patch more than the first couple of days. 
Then at night, I had to wear these patches taped over my eyes, so that I wouldn't rub or touch my eyes at night. Scary!