I have been a busy lady for the past few weeks.  I am just now getting time to sit down and update.  Let’s see if I can fill in all the blanks….

I headed north for 5 days to visit a friend and to celebrate her daughters 2nd birthday.  I should say she is much more than a friend.  She is a sister/cyster.  Her daughter is like a niece to me.  We have known each other for quite a long time.  She also has CF.  She is younger than me and likes to remind me often that I am old and “fun sized” (aka a petite little thing).  I was able to be with her to celebrate her baby shower, her daughters 1st birthday and now her 2nd birthday.  We have also been able to celebrate each others birthdays together as well a few times.  I am thankful for her and her friendship.  While I was visiting her I was able to finish IVs on Saturday the 13th.  I’m feeling pretty good.  Of course there are good moments and not so good moments.

Now onto my eyeballs!!!  I had LASIK on Wednesday the 17th.  It was a very cool experience.  I have wanted LASIK for years but never wanted to foot the bill.  I came across a promotion for a place here and told my husband about it.  He said go to the evaluation appointment and see what they say.  Well I was a good candidate so he said, “you’re doing it and you’re not backing out of it.”  He knows how I am with spending that kind of money on myself.

Here is how the procedure goes…

Before your procedure they give you 10mg Valium (unfortunately that did not work for me due to my very high tolerance to medicines.  Luckily I wasn’t too nervous or anxious, I just wanted it done).  They lay you down, numb your eyes and line your eye up to this machine that suctions your eye ball to it where the doc makes the flap on the cornea.

After that is done on both eyes, they swing you over to the actual laser.  You focus on a green flashing light all while there are little red flashing things too.  That is the actual laser correcting your vision.  After the laser is done they lay the corneal flap back down and tell you to blink.  They then do the same for the other eye.  Once that is done they walk you to an exam room where another doc checks to see how the eyes look, as in everything back in place really.  At this point I could see but it was hazy.  Then you are all done!  They tell you to take another 10mg Valium and the 2 Tylenol PM they provide and go home and sleep.  The first 3-4 hours are the most uncomfortable so if you can sleep through it it is better.  I did just that.  My husband took me home and I went to sleep and pretty much woke up when he got home from work except for a few times to see what time it was or to get a snack.  The procedure wasn’t painful at all.  It was more of an uncomfortable pushing on my eyeball when they did the flap.  I am ok with sticking my finger in my eye so it wasn’t that difficult.  There are some who freak at the thought of something coming in contact with their eye wether it is eye drops or contacts.

I woke up the next day and could see!  My brain is having a hard time adjusting to this new normal.  At night I keep wanting to take my contacts out because I know I can see and I know I don’t have glasses on so in my brain that means I have contacts in.  I have been wearing glasses since 3rd grade and contacts since maybe 5th or 6th grade so it is defiantly ingrained in my mind that I need something in order to see.  I went for my follow up the day after and all looked good.  I even drove myself.  I have another follow up this week and again in 1 month and 3 months.  I have been doing an antibiotic drop and a steroid drop 3 times a day and will continue until my follow up on Wednesday.  I also am using lubricating drops about 6-8 times a day to keep my eyes moist.

We went to a baseball game on Friday night and my husband was testing my vision to see what I could see on the billboards in the outfield.  I passed with flying colors!  It is so cool!  The doc said that my vision will fluctuate a bit over the next 6 months or so but nothing like not being able to see one day and seeing the next.  It will sharpen over time.  The halos and starbursts will diminish as well, which they aren’t too bad really.  I notice them but they aren’t “in the way.”

That’s about all for now.  We will be enjoying the last 5 or so weeks of summer before school starts.  I see the CF clinic in July so hopefully I can stay off of IVs and have a normal check up instead of a follow up from IVs.

Until next time…