On the outside, I try to project an image of having it all together. But underneath that, I'm kind of a disaster. Hence... the name of the site: GlossyVeneer. On Thursday I had the PRK surgery on my left eye. I was pretty mellow that day, considering I took the entire morning off work before going in for surgery. In fact, I was about ready to take a nap before they even gave me a Valium pre-surgery. We got to the surgery room and once again I was given my beautiful hat and booties to put on. At least this time I remembered to bring a rubberband to hold my hair back a little easier with the hat.
Once again, they had to put plugs in my upper and lower tear ducts, but they encountered a bit of a problem putting the plug in my lower tear duct. They tried putting in a small plug, my duct rejected it. They tried putting in a large plug, my duct rejected it. They tried a small plug again, my duct rejected it. This process was getting a bit painful. The upper plug went in just fine. The technician said he’d try to go find a medium plug and we’d attempt to plug the lower duct once more after my surgery.
So I was sent into a dimly lit room playing soothing music to let the Valium kick in more. There was another gal in there, waiting to get her 3rd Valium. Apparently she was too worked up to have her surgery. In fact, because of her nerves, I leap frogged her in the queue of patients.
After a while in the mellow room, I was nearly asleep. They came to get me, helped me lie down on the operating table and asked me if I wanted a blanket. YES PLEASE! It was cold in the operating room. They covered me up, taped my right eye closed, clamped my left eye open and started to get everything ready.
My husband watched through the window, so he took a couple pictures. It’s hard to get good pictures because there are blinds across the window. And at some points in the procedure all the lights are turned off in the room. Cell phone cameras just don’t do the job!
Everything went well during the surgery. There was one moment where my eye must have moved a little because they had to start the laser over. It’s a nice reassurance to know that it turns itself off if a person’s eye is moving.
After the procedure was done, they took me into an exam room. The doctor looked at everything through different instruments, determined that there was a flaw in the bandage contact lens they put in my eye, so they replaced that. Then the technician tried to plug my lower tear duct once more, but my tear duct still rejected the plug.
I went home and slept for a while. Standard protocol after this kind of procedure.
I had a follow-up appointment the morning after. On the vision test I was seeing 20/30, which is a little better than my right eye was day after. However, I have a lot more pain this time around. A LOT more pain. It’s rather excruciating. But it seems more in line with how they described the recovery process. The first time it didn’t hurt much. I wondered why they would prescribe a painkiller after that time around, but it makes sense this time. Not that I’ve filled it… I don’t like prescription painkillers, I’m a little scared of them. Thus I’m managing it with a painkiller drop, ibuprofen, ice and sleep.
I do feel guilty sleeping in the middle of the day though. I know I need to heal, but for some reason I feel like I’m either slacking on things I should be doing or that I’m ignoring my spouse. Not that he cares, he enjoys playing on the computer or with his XBox anyway.
Aside from the pain, the other most annoying thing I’m experiencing is that my eye is constantly leaking. I look like I’m constantly crying out of one eye. I’m not even sure if I’m supposed to keep putting lubricating drops in every couple hours like they recommend because my eye is so overflowing all the time. I have another appointment on Tuesday though, so I’ll ask then (plus see if I have to try the torture of plugging my tear duct again.)
As for now, I’m just taking it day-by-day, trying to limit my time on the computer and sleeping in sexy goggles. I’m glad I have the whole holiday break to recover!
