Summary
Pre-Op
My 5:00 appointment turned out to happened at 6:15 because Dr. Gimbel did a bunch of ICL surgery today. It's mainly a meet the Doctor visit anyways. He shook my hand then looked at my eyes...then I sat in the examination chair and he looked deep into my eyes. They were still healthy so I surgery was going ahead. My big question...would I be able to golf on Monday.
June 4 - Big day. ICL left eye. Ken gave me a ride to the clinic for my 7:00 am appointment. Talk about a friendly group! Everyone introduced themselves, I got a pill to help me relax and we got under way. The nurse explained that the protocol for the ICL was the same as that for the cataract surgery so, even though I am still quite young, they have to monitor my pulse and heart rhythm. The nurse explained what was going to happen then the anesthesiologist explained what he was going to do... mainly monitor. All ready so it's time to climb into the dentist's chair.
It FELT really interesting because after the initial freezing drops were put in you didn't feel anything at all. I was concerned about the blink thing (your eye is clamped open) but there is someone ther to stream liquid into your eye so you don't feel the need to blink. With my poor eyesight I was able to mentally block out the bright light by unfocussing my eye so even the light didn't bother me; you can't even see the instruments used because Dr. Gimbel works from the side. The coolest part was that once the ICL was injected you could see - just like that! I watched the video with Fred and he was amazed that I couldn't tell at all what was being done to my eye. Right after the surgery I walked out and Dr. Gimbel asked is I could read a sign over a map...and I could!
I popped the lens out of my glasses and headed home for a nap. When I got up that eye was all foggy so I panicked a bit. Luckily I had a 3 hour appointment. Dr. Gimbel checked the eye and said everything was as it should be. The fog was because the eye was quite dilated. Went back home and slept for the rest of the afternoon. By that evening I was watching tv with my one lens in my glasses.
June 5 - Another busy day. I decided not to bother wearing my glasses. I went in for coffee where I used to work before my surgery. Ken gave me a ride again. I got to the clinic on time and sat and listened to a group of people who had had surgery the previous day. This is NOT a good thing to do to build courage. They were saying there was an awful smell during the laser surgery and it hurt. Not only that but almost everyone who came out said their eyesight was not near 20/20. When it was my turn for the Dr. I nearly dashed past the assistant! I asked Dr. Levi about the smell and the pain and he said those people probably had PRK. LASIK doesn't hurt like that. Whew. A quick eye exam, everything was fine, and I'm off to the laser suite for the LASIK procedure.
Different people were on for Friday but the LASIK was performed by Dr. Gimbel. I had a pill to help me relax. My eye was clamped open and we waited for Dr. Gimbel. This really was painless! In the video you can see the laser pulsing but all I saw was sudden real blurriness then less blurriness when the procedure was completed...which took less than 2 minutes. The results were not as spectacular as the ICL. I was sent home with a plastic cup over my eye to prevent me from detaching the flap and a painkiller that I didn't need. There was a smell but not like a dentist smell as one of the other patients has described. It was more like a smell of ionizing air. Oh well, I was glad those othre patients weren't describing what I was getting. Once again I went home and slept.
| View LASIK video. The laser part isn't that apparent. I found this procedure much more difficult to watch in spite of it being bloodless! |
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Summary |
Pre-Op |
Post-Op
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