I survived LASIK!!!

I suppose it is time for the tale of my LASIK surgery.... Just a disclaimer, I am going to go into detail so it might freak out some of the more queasy people.
I was pretty nervous about the whole thing as anything to do with cutting or poking the eye freaks me out. But thanks to some serious drugs I slept beautifully the night before my procedure. I took the bus to the office because I knew I wouldn't be able to drive home, and my roommate Jeanette was kind enough to take off work to come pick me up. But as I sat there alone waiting for all of the testing and cutting and burning to start, my mind was able to wander and imagine all sorts of horrible things that could happen. I knew that I really wanted that Valium they promised me, but figured it wouldn't be coming anytime soon as I still hadn't signed my consent form. =) They finally called me back and started all kinds of testing with all kinds of fun equipment. Not bad at all, just an intense day at the optometrist. They finished all that, got all the measurements they needed, and told me I was a good candidate, but still went through all of the risks yet again with me. Great.... Then it was time to head back to the surgery suite.
I was with a group of people that were all going through at the same time. It consisted of different phases of preparation. They first took all of your possessions and locked them up. Then they got you dressed in little booties and a hat to preserve the sterile environment. FINALLY the drugs came into play. Nice little blue pill, and some pain pills and I figured things would start to get better. Meanwhile I could see the people coming out of surgery. They would stumble out with watering eyes, looking really dazed and feeling for things with their hands. I turned to my cohorts and commiserated that it was not a very reassuring sign. Come on DRUGS!!! I noticed they had started to kick in when I couldn't sit up straight in my chair anymore. Any movement I made had to be very deliberate. I suddenly was in a much happier place. Life was good...
Then they moved me to the next phase. They put the numbing drops in and told me that I would be going back in just a couple of minutes. My heart rate shot way up, and I wondered where my happy drugs had gone! Then they took me back. I could barely walk, but my nerves were still really high. They sat me down, the doctor always says a prayer first which was kinda cool, and then they just told me to look at the red light. They put little springy things in my eyes to keep them open. Then they put this suction cup thing on my eye, and it was a little uncomfortable. The truly scary part happened when they made the cut. The machine suddenly turned on, and it sounded like someone in a metal shop cutting through some metal sheets or something. It was this horrible sound as it was cutting through my eye! Really really freaky let me tell you. No amount of happy pills could take that fear away! I just tried to stay focused and not move because there was no going back at this point. The only problem was after they made the cut I could not see anymore so the red dot just faded away and I had nothing to focus on to keep my eye steady! They just kept telling me to hold still, and I was trying but all of the side effects if I moved during surgery kept flashing through my brain. I thought it was done, but then they told me they had just made the flap. None of the burning yet. I could see enough still to see the doctor take an instrument and lift up the flap. Then there was this loud machine like an MIR machine and the smell of my burning eyeball. Then I got to see the doctor put the flap back on my eye. So weird, and not fun! I could feel a whole lot more than I thought I would be able to. Not sharp pain, but definite discomfort. The good thing is it was over fast. Probably 10 minutes total. Then they sat me up, let me out, and I became the watery eyed dazed person stumbling out. But the friends I had made in my little group cheered me on as I came out, and I managed to mutter some encouraging words to the next patient going through. They told me to take my eye drops religiously, and scooted me out the door. I was done. What an experience!!
The rest of the day was spent putting eye drops in my eyes and pretty much being bored. I couldn't read, watch TV, drive, do yard work, or pretty much anything but blink and take my eye drops. And everything was pretty hazy that day. Looked like every room I went into was filled with smoke. My eyes got pretty uncomfortable at the end of the day, but they gave me some pain medication to put in my eyes and it helped a lot. I got to wear these crazy goggles to bed, which made sleeping difficult because I had to sleep on back and I was extremely freaked out about taking them off in my sleep and causing an eye flap wrinkle. Let me tell you, the fear of eye flap wrinkle is still very pronounced. The idea is just freaky.
The reward finally came when I woke up at 1 in the morning. I looked around and everything had cleared up! This was the first time I got up to pee in the night and didn't stumble around without my glasses on! I just sat there for a good half an hour smiling because I was so excited. No more dependence on glasses! YEAH!!
Yesterday morning I had my follow up appointment and I pretty much have x-ray vision. I was seeing 20/15 less than 24 hours after surgery. So I am off to a good start! No eye flap wrinkling either. So I just have to be really careful the next week and put in a billion eye drops and I am on my way to perfect vision with no glasses! I still think I look weird without glasses because I have worn them pretty much exclusively the last 3 years. It doesn't help that I can't wear any makeup for another week. But I will get used to it, and overall I am still happy I did it.
A picture of my new x-ray vision eyes:



My new look without glasses, weird....



And best of all, my lovely Safety Goggles I get to wear at night!



You can tell I am bored because I am taking pictures of myself. But this is the happy ending to my LASIK saga. Sorry it got so long, like I said, I am bored.