Friday, August 05, 2005

LASIK done!

It's 4 am i Know. And frankly, I'm not tired at all. Been sleeping since I came home after the LASIK op at 2 pm. Eyesight is not 6/6 yet, but it's closer to 6/9 or at least 6/7 (if there's such a thing).

My day of operation consists of my dad proceeding down to TTSH to sign the consent form. (As i wasn't 21 years old yet). It cost a COOL $4601.05. $3560 for the actual LASIK (wavefront surgery for me at $1780 per eye) and another $1k for intralase cut instead of the conventional surgical blade to form the corneal flap. And $41.05 for eyedrops and such.

And so, the appointment being made for 11 am, i strolled around Orchard borders prior to that (i had an NSC appt at 8 am which I kept), and had 3 hours to comtemplate what I was going to put myself through. There was a possibility of losing my vision altogether, or even requiring thicker spectacles than I did before due to complications and stuff. But all these are weighed up against the possibility (95%!) of not ever wearing spectacles again.

11 am, walked into LASIK centre at TTSH. They were showing golf on TV. Waited around. Had instruction from a nurse how to use the eyedrops and some post operative care (don't use computers) lol.

Then I went into the OT at around 12.15 pm. Scared. Apprehensive. Blah blah blah. Wore a surgical gown, slippers and surgical hat. Laid down on the surgical bed, which was somewhat like the space bed from "Tintin in space", except there were huge machines over the head area.

First for lasik, they would suction your eye out of your damn socket. You'd lose vision. I wondered at that time if it would be permanant. Then, truly, I'll be in the land of the blind. So i had my eye area cleaned, placed under the Intralase machine and my right eye suctioned out. "Don't move". Right. Eyelids held open by some nifty device. And tada, I couldn't see out of right eye.

Nurse counting, half done, 40%, 70%. I was like... what the fuck am i doing sia. Then doctor said, done. Flap created. Eye pops back in. And i had vision worse then I started off with in that eye. Then the left eye.

Whee. Flaps created in both eyes. Shites. Bubbles are present. So i was ushered out of the OT for 15 mins while the bubbles dissipate. Oh I must add, eyedrops were liberally put every few minutes or so. Anasthetic or lubricant, I really don't know.

So outside the OT, looking out of the window at fluffy white clouds with 2 flaps in my corneals. Pretty scary. I couldn't see properly. my Pupils were dilated, light was blinding. Ouchie. Longest 15 minutes ever. U know, when you have flaps in your eyes, You are really scared to blink. So i blinked only when I couldn't not blink anymore. I wondered if excessive dust got in as a results. Maybe you were supposed to close your eyes all the way. Then I dunno what would be of the flaps.

15 minutes up. Back in OT. Changed to slippers. Doctor says: left eye then right eye. Sitting outside. I heard "tick tick tick", sound of the laser zapping. Asked nurse what it was, nurse says doctor calibrating laser. OKAY...

So in I went. Head under machine. Green light. Red light. White lights. Blinking red light. Doc says look at blinking red light. Righto. Eye clamp put in. Mask put to cover rest of fact except eye. Doctor uses cotton bud to smear liquid all over my corneal. Then some surgical instrument to lift the flap. "look up, look at the light". Right. When you are lifting my flap my vision dunno go wher liao. All over the place. See white light, too bright. So bright it hurts.

Ok flap lifted. Look at blinking red light. Starting. Zap zap zap. Sound sounds like ticking alarm clock, only much louder. You can hear the cells being burned, even smell it. Smells like hair when it gets too close to a candle. Look at blinking red light. Dun move.

Done. Replace flap. HEY!!! BLINKING RED LIGHT APPEARS CLEAR NOW!

Other eye similar. Done.

Doc says: Congratulations on never needing to wear contact lenses or spectacles ever again. Ya right.

Wait outside for dad to pick up. Wearing sunglasses. Everything is slightly clearer. about 200 degrees like that. But everything very bright. On the car journey home, kept tearing and closed eyes because of the light. Even under sunglasses.

Went home. Tearing. Put antibiotics. Tried to sleep. Eyes painful. Burning sensation. Left eye hurts more than right eye. Doctor says no pain. Fucker. Couldn't sleep. Took sleeping pill provided. Tried to relief pain by dabbing away tears with tissue. Still burning pain. fucker. Thought of going blind. Can't open eyes at all.

Went to sleep.

Zzzzz.


lip
ranting

1 comment:

Unknown said...

interesting experience. how vivid....