LASIK: The part where I have surgery and then see everything.

Pre-leaving, annoyed by glasses part 1.

I can't believe it... a whole new world is before my eyes.

I opened my eyes this morning and I could see near, and far, and crisp, and detailed.  I can look out the window and read the license plate on my neighbor's car.  I haven't ever been able to see that well.  It's incredible.

So, Saturday.  That was the day of my surgery.  I decided to get into the city early to go see Avengers, which was awesome.  I hopped over to the clinic afterwards, a bit early, and got settled in for surgery.  Of course, I took a few pictures lamenting my glasses in preparation.  They fogged up more than once on the way, which annoyed me.  I couldn't see for the sunshine, which also bothered.  And they kept slipping down my sweaty face. No more, I say!

Gosh, I sure wish I had sunglasses.

I walked in and did some business to start everything out.  I gave the results from my HIV test (from last week).  I paid in cash my 100,000 baht, which was very fun to withdraw from the bank.  And when I asked for a phone charger because I was running low on battery, the fantastic Japanese woman found one for me.

I should have worn more comfortable pants, though.

They took me in to the Operating Space, and gave me some special shoes (they had to trade up to bigger ones because I have what my mother calls "canoe feet").  the nice nurse lady also gave me a surgical looking wrap that fit over my clothes and a sweet surgical cap.  She took my glasses and put them in my locker with all my stuff.  Oh, and before that, one woman served me a Valium to relax me.

Then, we walked into a bigger room with all these big armchairs in it.  I got sat down, reclined, and covered with a blanket.  They put numbing eye drops in my eyes over and over again.  The woman with the eye drops was obviously a pro with the eye dropping.  My consultant lady said that she had been working here for 10 years, and that is a lot of eye drops.

I got a 1,200 baht discount for paying in cash.

I was getting pretty loopy at this point, and I kept hearing the nurses chatting about "XL" which made me wonder if they were talking about my shoes.  Either way, I was there for awhile, getting eye drops all the time.  The doctor came over to talk about the surgery, telling me to relax, focus forward, and not squeeze my eyes.  I heard this often.

Then it was time.

They walked me into another room (seriously, how big is this place?) where the laser beams were.  I laid down on my back and tried to relax.  One of the nurses cleaned my face with iodine, then put what felt like a piece of clingy tape on my face.  It was some means of keeping my eyelashes open.  They cut little pieces open for my eyes, and mentioned that my eyelashes were particularly long and difficult.  Then, the doctor put a retractor on my eyes to keep them open even more.  This first laser was meant to create the flap on the cornea, and apparently is "the hard part".

Last ever photo of me with glasses on.  Pre surgery.

Gift bag 1 had valium, tylenol, face tape, and eye drops.
Gift bag 2 had more eye drops, eye shields, and q-tips.

It was very odd, I must say.  They put this thing really close to my face and then this robot voice came on and said something about suction.  Weird. I flinched right towards the end of the right eye laser, which scared the doctor, but all was still okay.  I managed to stay as still as I could on the left eye, so that was cool too.  This was quite unusual, and my high and nervous self kept telling that to the doctor.  Luckily, my personal consultant was holding my hand and everyone was reminding me to stay still.  They both laughed when I mentioned that practice makes perfect.

So then we got up and moved to another laser.  I laid back down once more, still with this odd tape on my face, and found my spot.  They moved this second laser onto my face, one with a bright circle of little LED lights, with a red and (maybe) green laser in the middle.  The doctor lifted up my flap, which made all the lights move and blur like when you're taking out contact lenses.  Then, the laser clicks on and whirrs, and you smell an unusual odor of singe.  The doctor puts the flap back on, and things go opaque and white.  She did the other eye in the same way, same process.  I was quite enjoying the look of the colors at this point.

#selfie

This whole laser to laser process took less than 10 minutes.  The laser parts were 10 seconds a piece, and the rest was just getting ready for the lasers.  The flaps the doctor was moving felt much longer, but they honestly weren't.  It was a super fast process.  By far the most painful part happened after it was all over; wen they removed that tape from my face.  That I did not enjoy.  They put me back in the giant armchair and put more drops in my eyes.  The doc also gave me some contacts that were supposed to keep the wound in check.

They gave me some sweet eye patches that made me look something like a bug, and that was it.  One hour from beginning to end.  Science.  I'm not supposed to squeeze my eyes too much or rub them.

I can see details through those little holes, and I'm pretty
darn stoked about that.

I had my favorite taxi driver, Khun Ann, pick me up.  She is one of the few people who knows my house, and someone I trust to get me from point a to point b.  She wasn't entirely sure why she was picking me up, and she seemed very worried to see my odd eye patches.  But, we talked and joked on the way home, then stopped at one of the few Mickey Ds drive throughs in the city, one quite near to my house.  I really wanted some junk food.

The eye patches made my depth perception quite poor, so Ann helped me into the house, and I went directly to bed.  Well, I took some medicine and went to bed.  It was one of the only nights in recent memory that I fell asleep without a book.

I fell asleep quickly, but I was in some pain in the night.  My eyes stung and felt dry and itchy.  I was awake in the middle of the night, aching as the numbing drops wore off.  I took some more medicine and thankfully fell asleep again, but it was an unpleasant sort of time.

Slightly on the achy side, but still able to read signs
and see what's going on.

But then I woke up again, with the light of day.  Even through the contacts making my vision blurry, and the eye patches where I can only see dots, I could see numbers across the street.  I could see details in the trees.  I could see the pictures on my wall.

I made some coffee and breakfast, and my buddy Joe came to pick me up.  He took me to the taxi stand since I wasn't sure I could ride a moto with any competence.  It gave him the idea to start a new business: the falang male escort service.  So, there's that.

Treating myself for the afternoon with a puzzle and some kitty
love.

I went back again for my day 1 appointment, where they took the eye shields off my face, took out my contacts (thank heavens, because they were uncomfortable), checked my vision, and made sure my wounds looked okay.  All done.  I went home and had a relaxing day, complete with nap.  I ended up a bit ill, though, my body aching, but I think this is unrelated.  I'm actually at home sick today because of a sore throat and some really aching flu joints, but otherwise, my eyes feel fantastic.

I have to put in lots of eye drops in the course of the next week, and my vision will fluctuate for the next week or two, but right now, I can see super well, and I'm incredibly thrilled that I've been able to accomplish this goal.  I can't wait to buy some cheap sunglasses and throw away the mess of glasses and contacts I've had.