Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Part 3: I survived PRK and all I got was this stupid eye gear!


Mom helps me attach the protective eye gear for my Day 1 nap.


I will wear these for 7 nights to protect my new eyes.

I came home 30 minutes later on the day of PRK surgery and was still groggy from the valium. The doctor told me to try to keep my eyes closed for most of the day, opening them only to go to the bathroom, to eat, etc. My mom drove us home while I kept my eye closed, as the sun was too bright for me, despite my wraparound sunglasses. When I slept, I was told to wear special coverings to keep from disturbing my eyes. My mom helped me put on the plastic eye coverings using some medical tape. "I think freezer tape would work better," opined my mother. Still, we persevered with the medical tape, and the results are pictured here. (My boyfriend had come home from school and taken out his camera.) Then I napped for three hours. When I woke up, my mom had made some chicken and rice for me. Yum! I listened to some TV for a while then went back to bed. My doctor called around 9 p.m. to make sure everything was going all right. I told him I felt a little burny in my right eye, but it wasn't horrible, and that my eyes were very teary. He said it was all normal, and he would see me for my followup the next day.
After a long sleep — 12 or so hours — I woke around 9:30 and was able to see! The vision was still a bit blurry on details, but I could look at my phone to call people or text. I could see the TV channels but not read the news crawl. When I got to my appointment, the doctor said everything was looking good, that my eyes were healing. I had 20/20 vision (using both eyes, not individually). Dr. Gailities and the staff warned me that the next day, Day 3, would probably be more painful for me. Today, I am obviously on the computer. Today is Day 2, but I don't know what tomorrow will bring.
I am told my vision won't settle for three months, but that by Monday (one week after surgery), I can expect to be pretty good in terms of pain and vision.
So that's all for now. Getting through Day 2, hoping Days 3 and beyond will treat me well.
Part 4: The Recovery

1 Comments:

Blogger Keith said...

Mm, hmm... you jusy go on believing that burning smell was something other than fried eyeball... ;-)

Thursday, 27 January, 2011  

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