I had my laser eye surgery today. Instead of writing about how awesome (or not awesome) it was, I’ll first tell you how exactly it happened.

As I’m typing this, everything is quite blurry. I’m wearing. protective goggles, which must stay on until my follow-up appointment tomorrow morning.

HHRay and I woke up at 9:30 AM and got ready to go. I wasn’t allowed to wear any moisturizer, makeup, perfumed deodorant, sprays, or anything of the sort.

We got to the Laser Vision Center and Murdoch Hospital about half an hour early and waited in the car for a bit, chatting and reading news on my iPhone before going in.

In the waiting room, they seemed to be running a little behind schedule. During our wait we saw two people come out with protective eye shields literally taped over their eyes with masking tape. I haven’t been nervous at all in the days prior and while I felt a tiny bit more apprehensive this morning (because I had a dream last night about them sticking a needle in my eye, which doesn’t actually happen), I still wasn’t afraid or worried at all.

Finally, HHRay and I got called into the next office. There, a nice lady checked my paperwork and told me that the $6,100 fee for the surgery doesn’t actually get implemented until November and until then, patients only have to pay $5,900. Bonus!

She handed me some paper “booties” to wear over my shoes and a cap to put over my head. Then, a nice elderly nurse came out of the office next-door to give me a mild sedative and put some steroid eye drops into my eyes.

We waited for twenty minutes for the sedative to kick in. HHRay and I chatted with the receptionist, who also gave me the run-down on the procedure, what I have to do post-op, and answered any questions about the whole thing. She also gave me an appointment card to see Dr. Phillip McGeorge (the surgeon) the next morning at 7:45 AM.

Finally, I was led through to the actual operation room. By this time the sedative kicked in and I was even more relaxed than I previously was. I noticed about three or four people in the room, but didn’t really get a chance to look around because the kind elderly nurse got me to sit on the bed and slowly and carefully lay down with my head under some sort of a machine.

She then proceeded to put what felt like two or three different types of drops into my eyes, then dry my eyes. The whole time she was talking me through what was happening, which I definitely appreciated. She was also saying I was doing great – I got the sense that many people must be really scared about this, because she was so careful to sound soothing and make sure I knew what was happening.

Then, the bed I was laying on moved and I saw the surgeon above me. His face was covered, but I can only assume that it was Dr. McGeorge. From memory he put more drops into my eye – these stung for a few seconds. He then covered my left eye with tape of some sort. I remember him putting some sort of a measurement device near (or on top of?) my eye. Finally, the surgeon placed some sort of a white device onto my eye. I heard a nurse nearby saying “Suction” and felt pressure, but no pain. I was instructed to look straight ahead as the first laser began to create the corneal flap by slicing through the surface of my eye. I did feel a little discomfort, but it didn’t hurt at all. It took about 20 seconds for the flap to be created. Then, the nurse said “Suction off” (or something along those lines) and the white device which was on top of my eye was removed.

The surgeon put more eye drops into my eye and then the same process was repeated on my left eye.

Next, my left eye was covered up again and two bits of some sort of tape were placed on the bottom and top of my right eye, maybe to keep the eyelashes out of the way. After this, some sort of a device was placed into my eye to keep it open. As I said, I couldn’t really see anything properly – everything was slightly blurred from the eye drops and maybe from the fact that part of my eye was just partly sliced off. I saw the surgeon’s hand with a thin metal looking device of some sort. He brought it to my eye and, I think, started sliding the flap up and away to expose the tissue beneath. Everything moved and became blurry and distorted at this point. The red pin of light that I saw ahead of me before turned into a red, sparkly blob of light. I was told to concentrate on the red light while the laser worked to modify the surface of my eye. This felt like it took around 30-45 seconds. And again, the same process was repeated on the left eye.

Before I knew it two protective shields were taped over my eyes and I was sitting up. The nurse asked me how I was feeling. I felt totally fine and was led through to another room where I was given a water bottle, sunglasses, and a box of Paracetamol pain killers (two of which the nurse had me swallow straight away).

I went out to meet HHRay in the waiting room, feeling totally fine. It’s when we were outside that the sedative they gave me earlier really started to take effect. I wasn’t sleepy so much as I was disoriented. All I remember is half-stumbling back to HHRay’s car, babbling complete nonsense, and instructing him to go to McDonald’s and ordering a “half small half medium”-sized fries.

Those were some of the most delicious fries I’ve had in my life. I ate them as I was half asleep. When we got back to his house I instantly sank into the bed, where he cuddled me for a bit to make sure I went to sleep, and slept for something like three hours.

I woke up feeling like there was sand in my eyes. It hurt to open them and it hurt to close them. I tried sleeping more, but couldn’t. I took two more pain killers and now I feel totally fine (until the pain killers wear off I’m sure). HHRay’s dad and I went for a walk around the park with his dog. Already, when I manage to look through one of the little holes in the eye protectors, I can read things I never would have imagined being able to read before. I can’t wait until my 7:45 appointment tomorrow, when I can get these things taken off and really experience my newfound 20/20 vision.

As I type this I’m laying in bed, rubbing my head and trying to figure out what the heck happened.

Earlier today I stepped out of the house in my running leggings and top, feeling good and stretching on the doorstep. It’s a warm day, bordering on what I would call ‘hot’, but not too scorching. I made sure to drink water before my run and felt great. After having sudden trouble running my usual distance of 5km in my last run I was totally confident about today’s attempt.

So I set off down the road on the usual running path I take around the neighborhood. Two and a half laps of this path add up to 5km. I was holding my pace down on purpose, trying to forget about speed and just completing the distance. I was happy with a slow pace of about 5:30 per kilometer. Before I even finished the first lap I felt fatigued. I’ve been running 5km regularly for the past couple of months, what the heck could be happening now? My throat felt like sandpaper as I breathed and the top of my mouth was rough when I tried to moist it with my tongue.

I made sure to drink plenty of water before the run, but there I was – feeling dizzy and dehydrated and hot. The sun felt like it was burning a hole in my head, but I made myself keep going. After all, 5km was my goal today and no way was I stopping again.

I didn’t stop, but eventually my thighs began to cramp, my vision became disoriented, and it hurt to breathe in my throat. With half a kilometer to go, I gave up and slowed to a walk. Not only did slowing down not make me feel any better, but a flood of nausea instantly washed over me. My head was pounding and my legs felt as though they were about to give out from under me. I heard my heart racing as if it would break out of my ribcage any second.

“Please don’t let me throw up.” I thought as I passed by a park with kids playing with their families. I did not want to hunch over in the nearby bush and gross out the kids. Thankfully, I didn’t throw up and made it home without the fall that I was expecting to have any second. I stepped through the door on the 5km mark, feeling sick and defeated. When I looked in the mirror my face wasn’t red as I was expecting, but so pale that it looked almost white.

I’m now in bed, feeling a bit better but still really out of it. I know I have to get up and go to the shop soon as there is no food whatsoever in the house for me to eat. I was going to ride my bike to the shop, but catching the bus is probably a better option. Or maybe I could just go without food today, feels more tempting than getting up right now.

A new surgically applied tongue-patch makes it painful to eat. This is the newest weight loss fad in California. This mesh-like patch forces users into a liquid diet, so they lose up to 13kg in one month. So far, 10 people have done this, which I guess isn’t really a “fad” yet. Gosh, what happens when the patch is off and you’re back to eating your normal diet?

I went to see a doctor today and am not pleased with the news. It’s probably nothing, but I have to get something checked out. Crossing fingers for good news next time :)

I have a cold. In the middle of fricking summer. Come on. Who gets a cold in the middle of summer?

Anyway, I hope it rains tomorrow. It’s meant to in the morning apparently. I’ve been going crazy with submitting Seek applications, it’s driving my head in.

I am going on an eating healthy rampage (again). But this time it’ll last. Basically, I’m not looking to change the amount of food I eat. I’m just looking to change all of the unhealthy stuff I eat into healthy stuff. I don’t want to force myself to eat or keep myself from eating however much I want.

So today I think was a very good start. I have always had healthy food on-hand when I was hungry and my food and drink for today consisted of:

A bowl of oatmeal with berries mixed in
Up & Go
Two apples
Half of a hedgehog slice
95g of tuna in tomato.
Some blueberry cordial mixed with water
Two cups of water
One cup of tea.

Feeling good :)

A Northern Territory woman has endured a nightmare operation at Alice Springs Hospital after she became conscious during stomach surgery but remained paralysed by the anaesthetic.

Rebecca Jones, 24, told the Northern Territory News she could feel every cut of the surgeon’s knife during the operation last month but was unable to scream for help as the anaesthesia had paralysed her.

Ms Jones, who was being operated on for gallstones, said she could not open her eyes but could hear and feel everything.

“I thought the doctors had woken me up because the surgery was over — I quickly realised that was not the case,” she was quoted by the Northern Territory News as saying.

Ms Jones realised her predicament when she took a breath and found she couldn’t move, but eventually moved her hand to get the attention of surgery staff — to no avail.

“(Someone) said, ’she’s just moved her hand’ but they kept going,” she said.

The hospital’s general manager Vicki Taylor admitted to the NT News that Ms Jones had been awake during the operation but denied medical staff knew of her pain.

Ms Jones is now considering legal action against the hospital.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=667452

The one good thing about being sick is finally getting out of it. It’s like a whole new world out there when you wake up without a headache, not feeling like vomiting, and not having to go to the toilet every 3 minutes.

I’ve been so happy all day. I’m still not fully recovered and had my down times today but for the most part I can say I’m FREE!

HHRay and I went to buy his some speakers this afternoon in Vic Park and then met up with his mom to have some coffee, it was very nice and I didn’t feel like barfing! I sang all the way back to HHRay’s.

Now I’m just nervous about a work-related thing that took place last night (or should I say this morning) and can’t wait to hear more word of how it went.

Never did I think that this sickness would last this long. I’m sitting in my room watching Ergo eating his lollipop and wishing I could be that bird – sitting on a medusa lamp, eating a lollipop, not feeling like barfing. 

I’m starting to take Keeda out a bit more now and not staying in bed the whole time, but it’s still only short walks to the lake and back. 

One good thing that came of this is that we’re both getting a bit of training done. I’ve been teaching her a couple of new commands and reinforcing older ones.

All kinds of things keep going wrong. First Keeda, now food poisoning. My mom made eggs and ham last night and I’ve been feeling off ever since I ate them. I didn’t throw up until this morning at about 12pm :( 

My mom’s been watching Keeda at home while I’ve been moping and feeling sick all day at HHRay’s – he’s taking great care of me, but I’ve just now started to feel a bit better. My temperature was at 39-40 and I made HHRay give me some Panadol so the hot flushes went away and I don’t feel quite as nauseous. 

Unfortunately I had to miss a very important appointment because of this – I’ve been asleep basically the entire day. Hopefully we can reschedule.