Bluegrass Mama

My left eye is legally blind.  My right eye, not so bad.

After years of hemming and hawing, I finally decided to have LASIK surgery on my left eye.  Part of the reason was that I’m now to the age where reading is a problem, and I either need regular contacts with reading glasses, monovision contacts (one eye for reading and one for distance), or glasses with progressive lenses.

We had thought BD would be going into full orthodontia by September and had socked away a good amount in our flexible spending account.  Turns out it’s going to be awhile longer.

Rather than lose the money, it seemed like a good time to investigate the eye surgery.  My own doctor (who had once recommended against it), said I should be a fine candidate.  However, he hasn’t done all that many of the surgeries, so I jumped ship and went to another ophthamologist.  After a couple of pre-op visits, today was the big day.

Our first hint of trouble came when Mr. B (my designated driver) and I tried to grab some lunch near the hospital before the procedure.  Subway looked good, but there were at least 10 people in line already and time was tight.  We figured we’d go to the Burger King across the street, but it’s been turned into a Skyline Chili.  We never ate in one before, and were surprised to find out it’s sit-down service.  No time, but we’d spied a sign for an ice cream shop across the parking lot.  Walked into the building, only to find the shop is closed.  So it was off to the hospital on an empty stomach.

The prep went smoothly, involving many eye drops, betadine, gauze and a lovely hair cap.  Once that was all done, I realized I needed to go out into the public hallway to use the ladies’ room.

Soon my turn for the laser came.  Despite more drops and significant numbing of my eye, I will tell you flat out that it HURT.  Mostly when they were trying to get a ring around my eye.

Then I hear the medical types discussing some kind of problem with the flap. 

Next thing, I know, the surgery is off.  Somehow the flap wouldn’t come all the way off, and it’s safer to let it heal properly and then try again when the eye is healed in a couple of months.  Meanwhile, I’m stuck with all the downsides to LASIK (3 sets of Rx drops to be administered about 14 times a day total, unable to swim for a week, and at least till tomorrow, a contact stuck in my left eye that blurs my vision and isn’t corrected by my glasses.  Oh, and I have to sleep in goggles for a week.  Now there’s a sexy look!

Now I need to decide if this is something I really want to go through with.  It seemed like such a good idea this morning!

Oh, and the Arby’s we finally stopped at for lunch on the way back had a problem with its Jamoca milkshake machine.  We ended up at Dairy Queen, where at least the onion rings and Diet Coke are reliable.