I woke up Monday morning at 6:00 to get ready for my 8:00 surgery.  I went into the bathroom and immediately felt the need to throw up.  No, it wasn't a bout of stomach flu.  I was just nervous.  I went back into the bedroom, sat beside my husband, who had the surgery last October, and told him I couldn't do it.  He told me to do whatever I wanted.  He knows me well enough to know that if he tries to talk me into doing something, I will fight it.

At approximately 8:00 I found myself in the examination room where they "mapped" my eye.  The test was wild.  I can't really explain it, but I felt like I was in a Dr. Seuss book.  There was a big red light, swirly black and orange lights flashing on and off.  The nurse was ticked off with me because I couldn't keep my eye open long enough for her to get the photos she needed.  She had to take two photos of my left eye, poor thing.  Things didn't go exactly how she planned and you could tell she wasn't happy about it by all of her heavy sighs.  I grew tired of that REAL QUICK.

By the time she was done with me, I was mad AND nervous and REALLY didn't want to go through with it.  My husband told me he'd take me home if I wanted to, that he didn't care either way if I went through with it, but he knew I'd hate myself for not going through with it.  About that time the surgical nurse came in to get me.  I left my family behind and entered the point of no return.

We went over post-op instructions, what all of the eye drops were for, things I could and couldn't do, what to expect, etc.  Then I put on a lovely blue surgical bonnet and waited to see the doctor.

The doctor gave me a Valium (thank goodness), checked my prescription and looked over the scans of my eyes.  All looked good, so he sent me back out to the waiting room until he was ready for me.

I sat and chatted with a very nice older lady named Shirley and a woman who worked there, whose job I could only imagine was to keep the patients from bolting out the door, scared out of their mind.  She was quite sweet and calming.  After about 10 minutes, the Valium hit.  That's when I knew what the lady's job was.  It was to keep the patients from sliding out of their chair and onto the floor.  I was feeling quite relaxed.  They could have told me they were going to gouge my eyes out with forks and I'd have happily gone along with it.  I was floating up somewhere near the ceiling when the surgical nurse came in, pulled me down off of the ceiling and took me to the operating room.

She put numbing eyedrops in my eyes which felt like they'd been stored in the freezer.  They were COLD!  The doctor came in after that and started the procedure.  He was great about telling me what he was doing.  They put two "spoons" in my right eye.  I'm not sure what they are really called, but they held my eye open during the surgery.  The "spoons" were my biggest fear.  I just knew it would hurt, but I felt nothing.  The doctor brushed some more numbing solution on my eye, then applied a suction cup on my eye and told me my vision would black out for about 45 seconds while he cut the cornea.  It seemed like it only blacked out for a few seconds.  I felt a little pressure, which was to be expected.  The suction was removed and I heard the laser go to work.  Before I knew it, they were on to the next eye.  The left one was a little more difficult.  The spoons didn't want to stay in.  It took three tries, but they got it done. 

Immediately after the surgery I could see clearer, but it was like I was in heavy fog.  Things were very white.  It was difficult to keep my eyes open.  They wanted to be closed, so I kept them closed for the most part, but I wanted to open them because I could see!

I came home, put on my pajamas and snuggled in to my recliner.  My eyes burned for a while and they watered a whole lot.  I took some Tylenol and a couple of Benadryl so I could nap.  I woke up a couple of hours later and my vision had cleared quite a bit.  I wasn't allowed to watch TV, do computer work or read, so I just sat here with my eyes closed as my husband worked from his laptop in the recliner next to me.  We chatted a bit and I listened to the kids while they played outside.  Sage came in, sleepy from getting up so early.  She put on her jammies and took a nap with me.  My eyes were even better when I woke up and felt almost like I'd not had surgery at all.  I felt really good.

I got up this morning and was surprised to find my vision was clearer than it ever was with my contacts or glasses.  I had a 7:30 check up to get ready for and was so happy not to have to search for my glasses or put in contacts!  I was surprised to see my eyes had many broken blood vessels, which made big bloody spots all over my eyes. The kids were grossed out by them.  To tell the truth, I was too.

At my check up, the doctor tested my vision.  I went from 20/200 to 20/15!  How incredible is that?  I feel great today.  I occasionally feel like I have a piece of hair or sand in my left eye, but it's common to feel like that for a couple of days following surgery.  He said the broken blood vessels are from the suction, completely normal and will heal within 3 weeks.

All in all, it was a good experience.  If I had to do it again, I wouldn't hesitate.  For those of you considering it...it is SO worth it.  Go for it.