Read about my decision to get PRK here. Read about my consultation here.

Next PRK post here (Day 2).

February 17th, 2012

I had a light breakfast and worked out for about an hour before the surgery. Got to the clinic 30 minutes early and they were very busy. My mom and I ended up waiting for about an hour before they finally started preliminary paperwork. I had to read a waiver and initial every page to document my understanding. Then they re-tested my eyes to get the calibration data for the laser. I had the same nurse as I did during my consultation- her caring and patience just blew me away. Give that lady a raise. She made me look at the “red bridge” and into the “swirly lollipop” (my names, not hers), then sent me back to the waiting room. Finally after another 30 minutes or so they led me and my mom into another back room where they started to brief us on the procedure.

First the nurse came in and asked us if there were any questions, then she introduced us to another nurse who checked my pulse and blood pressure. She walked me through the medications (lots and lots of drops) and gave me a valium tablet to put under my tongue. I wore little sanitary booties over my shoes and put my hair up in a hair cap. As the valium started to break down in my mouth it gave off a terrible taste, but the nurse was right there with a cup of water. She leaned me back in the chair and let the medication kick in.

After about 10 minutes of “relaxation” they led me into a room by myself and let me sit in the dark for a few more minutes. They also gave me a stress ball to squeeze. Thank god for that fucking thing. Finally (when I was feeling nice and mellow), the nurse came back and led me into the room with a horizontal table and the laser. They lay me down and put my face under this machine while the doctor started talking to me about basketball. He positioned my head and got started right away on the right eye. First he taped my left eye shut. Then he opened my right eye with a clamp. The clamp pinched going in, but was not noticeable once it was in place. He washed my eye with lots of drops/anesthetics and scraped off the outer surface of my cornea. This took about 2 minutes. It did not hurt, but there was a bit of pressure. I was told to look directly at the orange fixation light and the laser was turned on. All in all it was burning my cornea for about 25 seconds. He then washed my eye with nerve numbing liquid and took out the clamp. My right eye was done in less than 4 minutes. Same thing with the left. I was squeezing the living shit out of that ball, but had no problem staring straight at the flashing orange fixation light in the center of the laser. There was a brief smell of burning, but not enough to make me want to throw up. Afterwards, the doctor was really nice, said the surgery had gone perfectly. He led me out by the hand to the waiting room to see my mom and gave me some sunglasses. Very quick.

At this point there was little if any pain, but I was very light sensitive. We drove straight away to Target to fill the prescriptions for the steroid drops, antibiotic drops, and pain drops. I ended up falling asleep in the car because of the valium, and the next thing I know it’s dark outside and my eyes have started to sting a little. I got home, ate some mac n’ cheese, and took an oxycodone. No problem sleeping whatsoever, even with the attractive plastic goggles.