Surgery

Because I apparently did not, in fact, undergo LASIK surgery two weeks ago, I need to stop calling it that. LASIK is what mostly everyone calls any type of vision-correcting surgery, but I've discovered that LASIK is actually just one of the many types of vision-correcting surgery that one can have. And there are some major differences, some of which I like, some of which I hate. Okay, so I actually had what is called PRK- photorefractive keratectomy. Whereas in LASIK, there is a corneal flap created and the laser works on the tissue that is underneath the flap, in PRK, the entire outer layer of the cornea is removed (more on this in a minute) and the laser works directly on the cornea. The biggest differences in the two are the pain involved and the amount of time it takes the patient to gain "perfect" vision, whatever that happens to be. PRK patients typically experience substantially lower pain levels; my eyes did not have the sandy feeling that I heard so much about, and my sensitivity to light seems to be much lower too, but I did have to stay on top of my Vicadin for the first two and a half days after the surgery, and I slept a TON (aka 12 hour nights plus multiple three hour naps during my waking time) while I was recovering. As to vision recovery time, PRK patients have to be just that- patient. According to some of the material I read, it takes 6-8 days for the cells to re-grow on my cornea, 2 weeks after that for them to fully finish coming in, and 6-8 WEEKS before I actually will have 20-20 vision.

At this point, two weeks after my surgery, I am in the "functional vision" stage, which means that I can see well enough to do pretty much anything I need to, including driving and going to classes, but not well enough to read normally or recognize people from a distance. This is especially frustrating, as I have recently started my senior year of college, and am having a hard time reading my assignments. In short, I am at a very annoying point with my recovery, and I'm doing my best to be patient while my eyes heal themselves, but it's proving to be quite difficult. I get headaches from trying to do a lot of reading or working on the computer (hence the lack of updates) and I can't identify friends and acquaintances. I can't go grocery shopping because I can't read any of the prices, nor can I tell what brands things are unless my nose is right in the label. I couldn't purchase my books from the bookstore without help because I couldn't read the little tags that said which books were for which classes, and I can't read the stove clock from my couch. As I'm sitting here, trying to type this, I have to rely on spell check to give me a red underline if I've miss-spelled a word, and the headache is starting to set in. My vision is better in the morning and gets worse as the day goes on, which is tough when you consider the fact that most of my day actually happens after 1:00 pm.

Anyway, I have more updating to do, and I will get to it today still, but for the time being I need to get ready and go to church, so I'll be back later.