Today, I can't even see the big E on the eye chart, but tomorrow.....

Today I go in for Lasik eye surgery to correct my ridiculously near-sighted vision. I have wanted to have this done for years, but it's always been too expensive. Well, too expensive to justify spending THAT much money on just me for something I didn't HAVE to have since I could see just fine with my contact lenses. But a few years ago, my astigmatism in my right eye became bad enough that I could no longer see clearly with just a distance vision correcting lens in it. I needed a toric lens.

I had worn a toric lens in my right eye about 15 years ago with no problem, but when it "wore out", I returned to just normal soft lenses because torics were so expensive back then and I could see well enough without the astigmatism correction. That was no longer the case. Unfortunately, this time around I could not find a toric lens that would sit straight on my eye to save my life. I went through five different brands and two or three variations in each model, and each time, the lens would rotate about 5 degrees. That left me constantly rubbing my eye in an attempt to get the lens back into position. After struggling with this for over a year, I gave up. I started wearing my glasses to work and left wearing my contact lenses for the weekends. I hate wearing glasses. I haven't worn them regularly since getting my first pair of soft contact lenses in the summer of 1973.

I remember the day vividly. I lived at home. It was the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of college. I was heading to UC Santa Barbara in the fall after a year at junior college in Santa Maria. I remember I had to go to Santa Barbara to get them for some reason - probably because podunk Santa Maria didn't have doctors who gave them out yet. Part of the plan for the day was to tour the UCSB campus. I remember that when the lenses were first inserted in my eyes, it felt like I had a hair in my eye for just a few seconds. As soon as my eyes teared up a bit, I couldn't feel them at all. I also remember walking around on campus amazed at how clearly I could see the leaves on the eucalyptus trees, and how cool it was to have vision that was not boxed in by frames. I took to soft lenses like a duck to water. From that day on, I did not wear glasses again, except briefly upon arising or just before retiring for the night. For the past 20 years or so, I haven't even owned a pair of glasses. But now, I wear them daily once again.

A few months ago, my son-in-law's sister had Lasik done in Spokane. The price was an amazingly inexpensive $1,000. That was a figure I could handle, especially since I have $450 in a health benefits spending account I have to use by the year's end or lose. I made an appointment for a consultation for myself and my daughter, who is also as blind as a bat, minus the astigmatism. Last Thursday, we both went for the exam. While I have pretty typical eyes and can have the normal Lasik procedure, she has thin corneas and will have to have either a different kind of Lasik or PRK. She will find out which today. At 1:00 PM today, I will be in the doctor's office preparing for my Lasik surgery. By 4:00 PM today, I should be able to see better than I've seen since I was a little kid. My only concern is how bad my presbyopia will be after surgery. I have the option of having monovision done - they correct your dominant eye for distance and leave your other eye uncorrected so you can read without glasses - but I'm not sure I would like that. You do lose some depth perception and it takes a couple of weeks to a month for your brain to fully adapt. I'll talk to the doctor today. Regardless, I WILL see without glasses after surgery today. I can hardly believe it, and I can hardly wait! My daughter goes in for her surgery on October 7. She, at least, won't need reading glasses for years. I wish I'd been able to have this done years ago so I could have enjoyed years of glasses free vision, but to be able to wake up and see, to see in the middle of the night, to be able to go in the water and not worry about losing a contact lens - I can't even tell you how exciting that is.

So.... tomorrow I will try to post and give you the scoop on what it's like post-Lasik.