I'm post dating these blogs about my LASIK eye surgery so that they are a little easier to follow. It is really 1 week after the surgery.

I got to Dr. Lomas' office around 1:55 with Jenny. The kids stayed with some friends as the whole process (sign forms, prep, surgery, recovery) is suppose to take about an hour or so and Jenny didn't want to have to deal with the kids for that time. First I went in and talked to a lady and sign some forms saying that there could be all kinds of bad stuff that could happen. Pretty standard stuff. Then they gave me some valium to help ease the tension. They told me that I was put in front of some other guy because he was late or something.

Then they took me to a little alcove to wait my turn. It was here that they put on an attractive hair cap. It was kind of like a blue hair net or something. They also put little booties on my feet. Not sure why my feet were such a big deal, but they did. I sat in the alcove without my glasses on for about 10 minutes. I would see other people coming down the hall but couldn't see well enough to tell if they just had the surgery. (Those who had the surgery were wearing cheap looking ski goggles). I looked around at all of the plants and though about how I wouldn't see like this anymore. It was a neat feeling but I was still mildly worried about the surgery. I could hear them leading the guy in front of me out another door of the room that had the laser. Then they did some clean up.

The nurse came out the door near me a few minutes later and took me into this small, rectangular room with a gurney-like bed on rollers. The room was pretty dark and there were about 3-4 nurses in the room. They laid me down and strapped down my head with tape across my forehead. It was at this point where they put some numbing drops in my eye. Remember, I'm still pretty blind at this point (20/700) so I cannot see too much. Then they scoot me under an arm on the LASIK laser. I could see a green dot above me. Then the nurses tape my eye lashes down on my right eye and cover my left. Then they show me what the device that cuts the flap sounds like to help prepare me. Next, Dr. Lomas uses some device to spread open my eyelids. Things are happening pretty fast at this point. He turns on some red blinking light and tells me to keep my vision on that light (which was a fairly blurry ball to me). He brings the flap-cutter up to my eye and cuts the flap. I honestly don't remember the sound that it made but it was done pretty quickly. Then he lifted the flap. At this point the "fairly blurry ball" balloons into a pulsating, patterned globe about 4-5 times the size of the "blurry ball". It was very strange. Then it was time for the laser. I heard some clicking for about 10-20 seconds and then the laser was turned off and my flap was lowered back into place. I can remember seeing the red blinking light much clearer than the blurry ball but it was still pretty blurry, but better. Drops were applied to my eye and then a white flat thing, probably like a soft, small putty knife, was rubbed across my eye ball. That was probably the weirdest part of the experience. Seeing someone squeegee your eyeball in many different directions is very strange. I guess some more drops were placed in my eye, the eyelid spreader was removed and then that eye was covered by some tape or bandage (after I closed it of course). The left eye was much the same except that the flap cutter was very loud and it seems that I could feel it more. At this point I was glad that I had that vellum.

After the surgery, they unbandaged both eyes and told me to keep them closed as they led me into another dark room where I sat there for about 10 minutes. Jenny joined me after about 3-4 minutes. Dr. Lomas came in about 10 minutes later to check on my eyes (I guess he had just finished someone else's surgery). He told me to open my eyes. Wow! I could already see much better than before the surgery. I could read some of the signs on the walls but not the smaller words. He took a look at my eyes with one of their devices and pronounced them good and that I should go home, wearing my "cool" ski goggles and go to bed until the next morning (I could have dinner if I wanted). It was about 2:40 or so but that didn't matter, I wanted to keep my eyes closed and go to sleep. So we left the office.

Jenny drove me home while I kept my eyes closed most of the way. When I got home, I went immediately to bed. Around 6:00, I think, I had dinner with the family, a Tylenol PM, and went back to bed. I think I slept pretty soundly until morning.