Preparation - car to operating room

Kevin drove me down to the Refractive Institute for a 2:30 appointment. I had forgotten my signed forms, so I got to do a new set, which required about 20 initializations. After that, the secretary pulled me aside where I gave about 3 more with her as witness, and another signature along with Dr Zimmer. The doctor confirmed my recorded prescription and asked me again if I had any more questions, then took me into a side room to get preparations done.

I took off my glasses for the last time. Then I got to wear a silly blue gauze hospital cap to keep my hair out of the way, and got pieces of cotton gauze taped to my cheeks to keep any drops out of my ears. I got one set of eyedrops that were a weak numbing solution, then moments later, a different set of super-strong numbing ones, then another of the strong ones. Within moments, my eyes felt, well, numb. Sort of dry and heavy, but I didn't feel the need to blink as I would expect, and they didn't feel irritated.

I followed the nurse through a couple hallways to the operation room, where I sat in a dentist-like chair, and got reclined. The nurse confirmed the corrections they would be doing, which were different from my prescription numbers I had heard before. Apparently, there is another set of numbers, known as the "true prescription" which is taken while the eye is numbed, so no subconcious adjustments could be made by the person. My "true" prescription came out to -4.75 in my right, and -6.50 in my left (slightly less than measured).

After I was reclined flat, my head was put under a gigantic machine, and moved up so my face was about 1 foot from the bottom of it. I could see a blinking light in the middle, which I would need to watch carefully during the actual operation. The laser had an automatic tracking system for small wiggles I made, and would automatically shut off if I moved too much, but I still needed to center my eye. I was told I could cross my hands and feet, but should not uncross them while under, as it would wiggle things way too much. I thought for a moment I would have been happier being actually restrained, instead of just told not to move, but that didn't seem to be an option. Finally, with my face under the laser machine, Dr Zimmer sitting behind me, and another doctor and two nurses elsewhere in the room, we were ready to start.

Operation - under the laser (warning: may contain possibly squickful descriptions)

Each eye was done the same way. He taped a small covered disk over the eye he wasn't working on to eliminate visual distraction for me, and put one more super-strong numbing drop in right before doing anything. My eyelid was carefully swabbed clean, then my upper eyelid taped open. He put a lid speculum in my eye to hold it open. There was no discomfort for this except for some pressure and some odd sensations. The end result was that my eye was held open fairly comfortably, and the numbing drops prevented me from needing to blink. Very Clockwork Orange. Heh.

Dr Z then placed a corneal suction ring on my eye. I had to watch the blinking light to make sure it was centered. When this was done on my right eye, there was nothing but mild pressure. On my left eye, there was enough pressure that my eye socket ached slightly, but it went away as soon as it was properly attached. When the ring was attached, he turned the suction on, which made my vision fade to a dark gray within a couple seconds. He made a horizontal cut across the top of my corneal was made, the suction was turned off, and the ring was taken away, and I could see again. Then I could see the doctor reach down, pick up the corneal flap that had just been cut, and lift it up, at which point my vision went from blurry-but-I-could-still-make-things-out to almost a complete unrecognizeable blur. He then took a small, smooth instrument and did something to my exposed eye which felt like him painting it, perhaps making sure it was smooth and clean. Again, very little sensation.

Next was the laser part. It had already been programmed with what cuts to make for me. There was 21 seconds of laser time for my right eye and about 40 for my left. The laser sounded made a medium volume whirring and clicking noise. I did my best to stay completely still and watch the light, although I think I moved enough for the machine to cut out during my left eye. Fortunately, they just started it right up again and finished with no problem. Every muscle in my body was tensed up. There was some sensation, but it was very light, like maybe a slight breeze in my eye.

After the laser, Dr Z put the corneal flap back, which I could again see. My vision seemed slightly better, but I had such a limited view of anything that it was hard to tell. The weird smoothing instrument came out again as he centered the flap and made sure everything was smooth and straight. My vision seemed to jump around slightly as he moved it. I got nervous because he seemed to take about 3x as long on my left eye as my right during this part, but he said there were no problems. Then came another drop of liquid, and a wait time of about one minute to settle everything down. The lid speculum came out, the tape came off, and that eye was done. The whole procedure for both eyes was probably less than 10 minutes.

There was almost no pain, but definitely odd sensations all through it, and I cringed involuntarily many times from anticipation. Dr Z said everything went smoothly. He was very commicative and talked to me through the entire operation, telling me exactly what he was doing and how it would probably feel, so there were no surprises. After I was moved out from under the laser, I blinked against the light, and could sit up and read the big clock. My sight was fairly hazy, but definitely somewhat better. The nurses took off my gauze pads and funny hat and put on some eye protectors I termed my Bug-Eyed Monster goggles. I could see out of them, but not terribly well. I got up and shakily followed the doctor to a post-op consultation room.

Kevin was brought in to join me then, and the nurse at the desk went over all my post-op instructions. I had to wear the BEM shields for 4 hours immediately, and when sleeping for the next 4 nights. I was given a bottle of antibiotic steroid drops to put in 3x that evening, then 4x a day for the next 4 days, and some tear drops to put in 4x that evening, then as needed after that. I can't swim, go in hot tubs, or get anything irritating in my eyes for 5 days, and should be careful in heavy physical activity for several months.

After I was released, I walked up to the receptionist's desk and pointed out that I hadn't paid anything yet, so they took my credit card, pointed me at the line, and I scribbled something down. We got stuff, walked out to the car, and drove home. I was so stressed out from being tensed up for whole time I almost wanted to cry, but settled for hugs and some leaning on instead.