So here it is...Thursday, October 19, 2006...the BIG DAY!!! Got up at 6 am and was on the road by 7:15 am. My appointment is at 2:40 pm, wanted to have plenty of time for travel, shopping, and nerve settling.
Went to Redmond after passing through Prineville and taking a quick peek at Restore Vision Center. My first thought is..."what a tiny place!"
Did some shopping at a few select stores in Redmond and also had lunch from the Fred Meyer deli. Around 2 pm, I'm getting antsy again. By again I mean I've been pretty much that way all day - to the point that Carla has asked me..."hey, can you ratchet it down some? I have a headache and I'm tired and grouchy!" I think the food helped in the grouchy department!
Anyway, back in Prineville, we go to the Stafford Inn and check in. I wasn't sure I'd feel like it afterwards, and it was in my name!
"Terry, you watch this video and take this quiz...very good-all of the answers are right."
"Terry, let's test your eyes"
"Terry, let's counsel you and go through your instructions"
"Terry, let's do another test with the doctor"
"Terry, it's time"
This was all done with Tammy, the patient coordinator, who has also had the procedure.The quiz was simple true and false choices that I circled while listening to the video. It pretty much gave me the answers. All I had to do was pay attention. Then back to my seat and Tetris!
Now to the other machine. The Wave scan, which shoots light through my eye, creating my personal fingerprint, if you will, of my eye. More picture taking...stare at the red light and hold perfectly still with my eye wide open when she tells me to for 3 seconds. This shape of this red light looks like something out of Space Invaders, that is, when it would stay in focus. Do this three times per eye...no four of this one, and five times on the other. Must have four red boxes, (whatever that means) not two or three. Now there are pretty color-coded pictures that have printed out. Nice bright reds and greens. Now back to my seat to start Tetris again!
Whoops, on the go again! Now over to the counseling table where I receive my fancy blue disposable surgical cap and little black bag with my name on it and the following morning appointment time printed on it. We go through the two different kinds of eye drops, their schedule, the night and day glasses, and all the can-do's and can'ts, and do's and don'ts. ...And I'm back to my seat for another stimulating start of the Tetris game!
Along the same time all this is going on, I'm interviewing him at the same time...
How many years have you been doing Lasik Surgurys? 9 years.
How many years have you been in ophthalmology? Since 1990.
Hmmm, late start in life? No, just other things including other medical training before that. Nice credentials.
How come you wear glasses? Dr. Gene is one of the unfortunate ones with a cornea that is too thin for Lasik.
Contacts don't allow him the freedom of constant distance changes for him. Glasses work. Ok
"Aha", says I, "now comes the Valium!"
Yes, a paper cup of water with another cup occupied by said generic version of Valium. Down the hatch, and back out to the waiting room.
Now the numbing drops. Guaranteed to numb eyeballs in 30 seconds or less! It must be so...so far I don't feel a thing!
Now my right eye lash is being taped upward to keep them out of the way. Out of the way of what???
Oh, I see (bad pun) now comes the mechanical part. The speculum (speculum??? oh come on now, what's this procedure called?) Once inserted and spread to it's proper width, it's locked into a position that makes my cheek bone and eyebrow bone feel like they're somewhat compromised into distancing themselves even further away from each other! Slightly uncomfortable at this point. My hands clench themselves together.
Then something that feels somewhat like a soft, round ring is placed on my eye.
"Suction!" says Dr. Gene.
"Suction!" replies Miss Laser Tech Cheryl.
Suction, indeed! This machine starts up and sucks my eyeball outward into somewhat of a blunt point with such force and pressure that everything blacks out and I'm literally blind for a few seconds from the blood vessels all expanding.! It feels something like if you close your eye and press rather hard on it for so many seconds until you you can't see anything but black and swirly colors!
Now the suction has its proper pressure and is firm enough to cut, my vision has returned, such as its blurry-eyed blindness is, and Dr. Gene marks on my eye where the flap will be made. Now a new machine, the Hansatome Microkeratome. The most trusted machine to create the 3-sided, somewhat curved, flap on the cornea. It buzzes lightly back and forth with a quickness for what really isn't that long of a time. I can hear Dr. Gene talking, "Great, great, doing fine. Now we're lifting the flap!" He has a calm voice, that's nice.
Lifting the flap? Have you ever seen the Clariton commercial on TV? "Be Clariton clear" Well, this is just the opposite! I really saw my eyeball covering lift just like a flap should, and things went from my normal bad vision to nothing but faded light! Trippy!
Now Miss Scrub Tech Kalena goes to work, flushing my eye to clean it of any debris. I'm assuming this because I can feel liquid running down the side of my face, can't feel anything on my eye. I guess the numbing drops really work! Dr. Gene keeps talking in that calm voice, telling me that I'm doing great and everything is looking good.
Now another machine, the star of this show, the Visx Star 4 Eximer Laser with wave front technology, moves over me. This is the baby with 3D eye tracking and sophisticated variable beam delivery. RVC is one of the first two vision centers in the Pacific Northwest to use this wavefront technology. I see a flashing light, and I'm told to look at this light. Then a clicking noise starts, one that sounds something like a neurotic taser gun. Ever hear a taser gun? Short, staccato, rat-tat-tats as long as you squeeze the buttons. This was steady, then broken up, then steady, uneven. This is the almighty powerful laser that can either totally blind you, used wrongly, or bring better vision to the hopeful and trusting client! I am one of those trusting and hopeful clients!
My eye wants to drift to the edge of the light, so I voice my concerns. I realize that although my eye is numb, it's not paralyzed. Dr. Gene says it's ok, that this laser is well-trained (such humor, we all know it's 3D eye tracking, don't we?) to track any eye movement. That's a relief! Anyway, the laser burns away tissue, flattening my cornea (because I'm near-sighted), using a cool, ultra-violet light to reshape my cornea to allow the correct light to focus onto the retina, allowing better vision. Because my eye does move slightly, Dr. Gene asks me to move it in certain directions at times.
A few more minutes of this and I'm done, with the right eye anyway. Dr. Gene says they always do the right eye first, then the left.
He takes the speculum out, what a relief! My hands have unclenched, and please note...this has not been from pain, but more so from being in discomfort from the speculum. There has not been any pain throughout this procedure. Now the untaping of my eyelash. OK, this hurts a little, let's put tape on your eyelash and pull on it! Actually, this is just irritating. Now my eyelid is gently taped down and we start all over again with my left eye.
When this has finished, Dr. Gene says "You can sit up now, we're all done!"
"We're all done?" I ask as Miss Nurse Assistant helps me up.
"That's it, all done, you did great and everything went wonderfully!"
Music to my ears! I sit up and look at Miss Nurse Assistant. I won't use the angel cliche, but she looked pretty darn good without glasses, even though it's like looking through mosquito netting from a foot or two away from it. She leads me into a semi-dark room and I sit in a chair. I'm offered juice or water, and a cookie. Peanut butter or oatmeal. She has to point out the oatmeal. I can read (read...without my glasses?) the juice labels. Then I'm told that I'm released to leave. I ask if my ride is here. Carla is, she's here to fetch me, and so roughly two hours after putting in my appearance, I walk out into the waiting room by myself and don my dark sunglasses (it is unbelievably bright!) to take on the appearance of...the Terrynator!!! Minus the leather and sawed-off shotgun, of course.
I get final words of advice, and out the door we go! All this time I'm peeking through slitted eyelids to look around and marvel at things I can see! I can see- without glasses or contacts. Of course, the thought of putting something into my eyes at this very minute would be enough to make me turn into a very unhappy person. They don't hurt, they're just very very light sensitive, even with dark glasses.
Carly comes back with great smelling food from the store deli, and and she fixes me a plate. I wake up long enough to change into jammies, crawl into bed, and eat my supper. It's dark outside, and only a lamp across the room and the TV for light, but I'm not looking! I ask Carla to wake me at 7 pm and again at 9 pm so I can put medicinal drops in my eyes. 1% Econopred Plus for anti-inflammatory and Vigamox for antibiotics. She does, and that is the end of my exciting day- laying under the covers on my back, dark Terminator glasses on, and dead to the world!!!
We're up at 6:30 am. I find that I don't need the dark glasses, but I am in sore need for eye drops. My eyes are a bit stick, so I use a warm, wet washcloth and pat my eyelids lightly. Don't rub, that could be bad. As fast as eyes heal, there's the chance that I could rub and tear the flap. That's better, now some more drops. Then I make my rounds about the room to read everything I can, then over to the window to look out and read the signs outside. This is great! I can see!!!
We get dressed and we do downstairs for breakfast, after once again scanning everything in the room and reading every word I see out loud. I feel like a little kid on Christmas morning from back in my childhood when I would see the bright lights and colors and open my first present. After breakfast, we came back, grabbed our sweaters, and off we went for my 7:40 am follow-up visit with the doctor.
OK, test over, she says I've gone from a 20-400 plus to a 20-25. Wow! Now it's Dr. Gene's turn. He comes in and checks my eyes also. and yes, the light he uses is ever so bright, but we get through it. He says I'm doing great and everything looks good. Then he shakes my hand and I dance my way back out to the waiting room up to the desk. Kenna signs me out and presents me with a giant Hershey Bar, which has been cleverly re-wrapped in a Restore Vision Center wrapper.
Out the door we go, and we are on our way home, the long way around by Crooked River way. After a somewhat long day of sight-seeing everything on the scenic route, and wearing my dark glasses, (which, of course, make me look too cool!) we finish our day by dining at the Squeeze -In. Then it was going home and relaxing for the evening.
What do I have to look forward to at night for next week? Wearing my night goggles, of course! They look like white ski goggles without ear pieces, only an elastic strap. I'll be ...like stylin' on the night train for sure! And don't forget the nummy tasting drops four times a day!
Well, here it is, my one week follow-up after my surgery. OK, so I'm 2 days early, but Dr. Brown has his priorities, He's gone on Wednesdays, and Thursday he's going elk hunting. So, here I am, going through the testing of the eyeballs again. I read the letters looking through his machine, and find that I'm a 20-15 in my left eye, and a 20-60 in my right. Some fluctuation there. That's OK, I have up to three months in which to expect some slight changes between the two eyes. Dr. Brown says they look as good as can be expected, and that they're healing according to schedule. I'm scheduled for a three week follow-up and go home to enjoy the freedom that has been given to me by modern, magical, laser technology!