ZAPPING DAY!
Today is the day!! A few days ago, I had a
mid-term so I couldn't really get to rest my eyes. However, as said in my previous post, I was suffering from super dry
eyes a month and a half prior to this day, which may have delayed my procedure.
But luckily, I was able to recover from it using various methods stated
in that post. If you have the same problem, check it out!
Pre-op Tips
- Rest your eyes, sleep at least 8
hour prior to surgery
- Drink lots of water to keep
yourself hydrated
- No contacts 14 days before surgery
(they say 7 but I think 14 is better)
- No makeup/cream prior to surgery
- Get someone to drive you to the
surgery!!
Arriving at Office
- Review/sign consent form
- Put on name tag
- Nerve-wrecking wait-time as
surgery was displayed on TV @_@
- Wait 10 mins, Samantha guided me
to room; she was calm, caring, and encouraging which helped with the
butterflies in my tummy
- Brief given on "loot bag" - my companion for next few weeks
 |
| Loot Bag ^^ |
Points to remember for recovery:
- Start the drops immediately when
you get home
- Doesn't matter what order drops
are done (I just followed the sheet order anyways)
- Administration of drops must be separated
by at least 3 minutes
- Eye drops spaced out evenly
through waking hours
- 1st week, 4 drops, 4 times a day.
So given a 12 hr day, I spaced it out by 3 hours per drop cycle and then
3 mins between each kind.
Pre-op Surgery Measurements:
- Pachymetry - Eye pressure and
cornea thickness
- Wavefront analysis
- Corneal Topography - map
of cornea surface giving a blueprint of eyes shape
- Autorefractor - awesome, you stare
into a machine, read some letters, then it details what prescription needs
to be corrected
Samantha then offered me a valium, also known as "happy
pill" to relax myself. I just accepted it just in case... I
was already calm but it made me super happy after the surgery though.... I
guess thats a good thing, no anxiety attacks.
Guided across the hall, waited for 10 minutes before Dr. Raymond Stein came into the room. With a smile, he said, "its your big day eh?' as he opened my file with measurements just taken not too long ago. He took a look at my eyes for like 1 minute, told me it looks good and healthy to go for surgery. Left the room and ten minutes later, a man came in to do a quick vision check to make sure the measurements taken by the Autofractor was correct. That took 5 minutes and all verifications were valid.
Guided across the hall, waited for 10 minutes before Dr. Raymond Stein came into the room. With a smile, he said, "its your big day eh?' as he opened my file with measurements just taken not too long ago. He took a look at my eyes for like 1 minute, told me it looks good and healthy to go for surgery. Left the room and ten minutes later, a man came in to do a quick vision check to make sure the measurements taken by the Autofractor was correct. That took 5 minutes and all verifications were valid.
Immediately, he guided me downstairs to the surgery room.....arriving downstairs, the first thing I saw was a huge open glass wall, with the laser machine, and a man laying there as Dr. Raymond Stein performed the surgery. Beside him on each side were assistants. The man told me to wait as I watched the other person's procedure projected on a screen... here comes more butterflies. Has he valium kicked in yet????
**What I like about the process so far is not once have they asked me to pay them yet.
Minutes later, my name was called by a lady in a room behind me as I was staring at the projected screen and I went in. *This is when you pay* She asked who I would be doing my post-operative care with, I said my optometrist. She then gave me a paper to sign indicating the amount that will be given to my optometrist from my fixed surgery cost. Signed, gave my VISA, got my receipt and left the room. (Apparently, you can file this under your personal income taxes. I haven't done it yet but I will let you know how it goes when I file my 2013 tax return).
A minute later, the man's surgery was done and he came out.
I asked how it was, he said not painful and super quick. At this
point, my bf has left me to add money to the parking meter. Right when I
wanted to ask about his vision, my name was called. Here comes a huge splurge
of butterflies. I followed one of the assistant into the room. She
told me to remove my glasses and lay on the bed part of the large machine.
I did as told and as I was laying down, I saw my bf return, this made me
feel relieved. ^^
First assistant told me she will be putting numbing drops into my eyes several times and told me to keep my eyes closed. Already laying there, I saw a huge array of lights shining down on me, white, red, green, blue. She applied it once and covered it with a piece of cotton swab. Remove one eye and apply again. she gave me these drops 3 times. This only took at most 2 minutes. Then I hear Dr. Raymond Stein walk in and said we are beginning.
WHAT ALREADY?? ARE YOU SURE MY EYES ARE NUMB NOW...omg omg omg omg... yeps...that was going on in my mind
PROCEDURE...Right eye first!
- He used some sort of clamp to keep
my eyes open and apart (most uncomfortable part) - its like those
things they use to keep your mouth open at the dentist but smaller for
eyes
- He squirted some liquid into
my eyes (to disinfect it)
- Saw some circular looking brush
(like mini version of electric toothbrush head) coming towards my eye - it
removed the protective corneal surface layer of the eye (epithelium)
- Squired some more of the liquid
- Told me to stare at a red light in
the middle as Dr. Raymond Stein used to hands to hold my head into place
so as not to moved as much... Second assistant starts the count down from
25 seconds - this is when the laser excimer comes to reshape the curvature
of my eyes according to the maps taken before
- "10 seconds left, you're
doing good, keep staring at the light, 5 seconds left, very good"
- "Very good Trinh! We are now
going to cover your eyes/vision for 1 minute" - waiting... eyes
totally tearing at this point from the clamp discomfort, but NO
PAIN FELT as of now
- Cover removed on my right eye
- Non-prescription contact lens
placed on the eye
- Squirt some more of the liquid
- clamp removed, eyes closed, cotton
swab placed back on eyes
Left eye now! Same steps but since one eye was done, I
was more impatient for the left eye and it was a bit more jittering than the
right.
"Ok Trinh, very good. Its all done now! You
did really well and the procedure was successful" said
Dr. Raymond Stein.
The first assistant told me to slowly open my eyes
and get up once the overhead of the machine has moved. She helped me up
and immediately I could see everything around me being crisp
and clear. It felt like a revelation and the best feeling ever!! No pain
at this point in time, just some tears.
Grabbed my glasses, met up with bf/sis at door as she guided me to a room with massage chairs lined up. Instructed to keep my eyes closed for 15 minutes and rest on the chair. Tea and water was offered to me as I rested and chatted about the surgery. The entire procedure took only 5
minutes! Yeps... a few thousand for a few minutes...
15 minutes later: Eye physician from before checked my eyes to ensure no bad reaction and infections occured. Gave me a box of Bochner branded chocolates and said I was good to go!
My feelings: super happy and still no pain
Wore my spiderman cap...so "fashionable"....
Wore my spiderman cap...so "fashionable"....
Arrived home, ate and applied the first 4 drops (anti-inflammatory,
anti-biotic, steroid, bion tears) with several minutes intervals.
Went to my room, put all the blinds down and slept. At that point
in time, my eyes were starting to feel scratchy and grainy (feeling of an eye
lash in your eye).
I had an alarm set up for every 3 hours from noon to 9pm. So
I woke up again at 3pm to apply my second round of drops. At this time, I
still felt no pain and just the discomfort and scratchiness, which didn't
bother me too much. As well as light sensitivity. I was not able to
go back to bed because I felt restless so I just laid in bed with my eyes closed
thinking about random stuff for 1.5 hours.
At 5:00 a friend arrived with
bubble tea to visit me (Thanks LinaT! <3) Together with my
sister and bf, we went to Congee Queen. Prior to leaving at 6, I did my 3rd
round of drops. It was dark at this time and I sure looked awesome with
my shades and hat on..
You have to wear sunglasses for the first five days when you are
outside, whether its day or night, just to protect your eyes from the
wind.. as your surface corneal cells are growing back.
Eyes still felt scratchy and random times a bit inflamed thats when
I closed them and rest for a bit.. We ate dinner and then went home where I
applied my last round of drops and went to bed for good.
Up until now, I still believe I made the right choice in pursuing this operation.
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