SURGERY DAY
I was scheduled to be there between 12:30pm & 12:45pm. I went into a room with my mom and a nurse and she administered the Valium. We chitchatted for about 15-20mins before she led us both to a "waiting" area.
Believe it or not, the surgery room (if you'll call it that) is performed in a room encased in glass. So anyone walking by or sitting outside the room can see the procedure being done. It's pretty neat. I watched the girl before me get done (which actually she told me after it was her second procedure cos her eyes regressed over time). Within minutes, she came out walking and talking, which also reassured me and then wished me luck. I went into the room with my mom and I quickly blurted out to the 2 assisting nurses that I have anxiety and I get nervous very easily. They led me to a chair that is identical to the dentist's chair, they told me they would talk me through the entire process and that it would be over before I knew it. They began to put drops in my eyes. This continued for the next 5 minutes to the point where my eyes were naturally "crying" from the amount of liquid they kept putting in. It was all to numb my eye.
The chair began to go back slowly and the nurse told me that a pillow behind my head would slowly begin to inflate to accomodate me better. Once that was done more eye drops were used. The nurses began to tell jokes to my mom and myself in hopes of relaxing me when the surgeon finally came into the room my anxiety kicked in. I started hyperventilating and trying to talk myself into breathing slowly and more controlled through my mouth. The surgeon told me he would be putting a clamp on my eye to open up my eye some more and that I would not feel anything at all, all I could think about was CLOCKWORK ORANGE
Lucky for me, it's nothing in comparison! You don't even see the clamp coming towards you. He was very gentle and came in through the side so I wouldn't freak out and he opened up both my top and bottom eyelids very slowly and I didn't feel any pressure or pain in the least.
Once my eye was forced open, the surgeon (Dr Edminson) told me that I may smell something burning for a few seconds and to not be alarmed that it was just him scraping off the top layer of my cornea (NOT BE ALARMED!!!!) I once again started breathing very quickly and requested that my mom hold my hand. I was breathing through my mouth so I barely smelt anything at all THANK GOD. But the few seconds I did catch a whiff, it smelt like burnt flesh meets burnt toast. It's kind of hard to explain but seriously, it's only for a few seconds.
A large machine was placed over my head (not touching) and a small red light covered my vision. The surgeon told me to stare continously at the blinking red light, that that was the laser and to try to not move but if I did move my body or my eyes, the laser was so good it would follow my movements or stop completely if I had to cough or sneeze. It's that safe. So that reassured me. The nurses started counting down with me and before I knew it, 30 seconds had passed and they were completely done one eye. The same steps followed for the second eye except this one only took 20 seconds.
AFter they pulled away the big machine, they moved my chair back in the sitting position and told me to close my eyes as they cleaned the leftover tears from the drops from around my general eye area. Then they told me to open my eyes and take a look around. I slowly opened my eyes and couldn't believe how awesome my vision was! I could actually read the time on the clock across the room!! I was then told it was all over and they gave me a glass of water with 2 pills (painkillers) and to go home and rest for the next few days.
I stood up and almost fainted from all the emotions and adrenaline rushing through my system. They gave me "stylish" sunglasses to keep my eyes protected since they would be extremely sensitive to all light sources for the next few days. I then went home and rested.
No comments:
Post a Comment