Day 69 (LE) - Day 4 (RE)

On February 9th I decided to have my right eye operated. My left eye is 20/20 for the most part of the day. It still drifts early in the day and after 6:00 pm.

A big difference on this surgery is that my RE hurt very bad on day 1 and 2. I resisted the numbing drops since they slow the healing down.

Today, I am doing very well and I am typing with one eye covered. As expected, any light is too bright at this point.

I am thankful to God all is going well. This time, I have kept my eye moist constantly and even set my alarm up to get up about 2-3 times during the night. The "baby" gets thirsty(dried) and the Sytaine drops are going to work.

The Doctor is very pleased with the progress on the left eye. He told me that for being a post-RK patient I am well ahead of the curve. I think it is also due to my intake of vegetables(carrots, spinach. celery), vitamin C, fish oil and Lutaine supplements. The Doctor thinks the prescription should lock in at the 3-month mark. However, it might take longer for me since I have RK.



 

Day 39

I did postpone the surgery on my right eye to February 9th.

My eye hurt a little bit for the past few days. I think another month will help my eye to gain more distance.

Currently my vision on that eye is 20/80. As far as reading computer screen and printed text, it feels great. The starbursts from the car lights has gotten better.

I am happy overall, knowing that it is progressing and that I need more patience. Thanks God I am doing it one eye at a time.

I noticed I am losing my "powerful" near vision I had experienced for the first 3 weeks. But that's how is supposed to be.

Day 24 - Happy New Year 2017

01/01/2017

The new year is looking much better out of my left eye.

The trend for the last 4 days has been that the progress is very noticeable in the morning and it fluctuates throughout the day. Right now I am typing at about 20 inches from the screen and I see very clear.  It is still very difficult to drive at night, although I could because of my right lens with prescription. Lots of glare and starburst from vehicles headlights, added to the fact that my eye is tired and cannot see as good as it does during daylight.

My eye still gets very dried overnight. I am 11 days away from the scheduled date to operate my right eye and I am not sure if I would do it or not. If it were today, I would not do it. My left eye is currently not reliable to depend on it.

Overall I feel fine about the progress, it is slow and perhaps slower for post-RK patients.

Day 18

Today was a discouraging day. I was just able to see about 8 inches away and my felt so dry during the day. I was off work and I should have been fine.

I'll just keep on going and trusting that it will be fine.

Day 13-Day 14

Tested my reading distance in two scenarios : computer and printed material

6:55 am
Computer: 10 inches
Printed material (regular font size) : 11 inches

Day 12

This day went uneventful, same blurriness. I remembered the doctor's words "You will start gradually gaining distance and will even read without glasses for some time, however do not get excited because we only treated you for distance. You will still need reading glasses when all is set and done." I did try this, I got as close to the mirror as possible and could see my face crystal clear at about 6 inches away. I smiled big because no blurriness whatsoever. My hopes went up that this is working, thanks God. Then I went and grabbed a magazine and I was reading perfect about 5 inches away.  During sleep my eyes dried up again. I applied drops about 3 times. 2-3 hours apart.


Tested my reading distance in two scenarios : computer and printed material

6:40 am
Computer: 8 inches
Printed material (regular font size) : 7 inches

I will measure this evening to check consistency or gain :)

7:05 pm

Computer: 7 inches
Printed material (regular font size) : 7 inches

It is about the same. I will measure again in 3 days.

Today the eye has been less dry and that makes me happy.  My distance vision is very blurry. I could not even see 20/200

I am not discouraged. Just being  patient!

Day 1 - 11

PRK surgery on left eye on 12/8/2016
Laser Method: Wavefront optimized
Laser device : Alcon Allegretto WaveLight
http://www.la-sight.com/lasik-prk/Wavelight/wavefront-lasers-compared

MethylPREDNISolone Tablets USP : as prescribed in pacjage.

Medications:Prednisolone Acetate: 1 drop 3 times a day for 1 week

Zymazid 1 drop 3 times a day until bottle is gone

Systane Ultra preservative Free: 1 drop every 1-2 hours four times a day for 1 month.

PERSONAL RECOMMENDATION:

Start taking vitamin C and Omega 3 oil at least two weeks prior after the surgery and continue for the next 6 months. Vitamin C is supposed to prevent corneal haze and Omega 3 should help with eye dryness. I also have a vegetable smoothies every morning. The ingredients: spinach, carrot, celery and flax seeds. Read about those supplements online and get informed.

Day 1: I was able to see better already first few hours after surgery. Dr explained that eye was very moist with all the water that was applied during surgery. Pain started 5-6 hours after surgery,lasted for about 1 hour. I took a nap for 2 hours. Took two pills of Tylenol strength. Applied a patch to my eye to block all light. I planned to do it for at least 5 days, to avoid exposure to light and other agents. I had a great night of sleep and took 2 sleeping pills.

Eyesight became hazy or cloudy

Day 2: I applied Systane drops at 7:00 am and my eye hurt for about 1 hour. It stung and felt like a foreign object in my eye. Around noon my wife drove me to my 1st follow-up appointment. They found my eye was too dry and told me that my healing time was going to be affected by those RK incisions. They asked me to increase the frequency of the tear drops, every hour. IMPORTANT: strongly suggested to use Systane in vials instead of the bottle. They said the ones from the bottle contains preservatives that seem to cause the adverse effect on the eyes when healing. Vision 20/200

Day 3: My eye is a little swollen and I have not felt pain so far other that normal discomfort of feeling an eyelash trapped on my eye. I noticed this morning was not as hazy as yesterday, however at this time (12:47 PM) is back to the same level as yesterday. Well around 3 or 4:00 pm things changed my eye got very red, itchy, and the feeling of a foreign object was even more poignant. In reality it was my fault because the doctor had said that I needed to keep that eye moist with “Systane” and I just waited too long between drop times.  That night I slept well .

Day 4: It was a good day overall, I did well keeping the eye moist and in the dark. I even noticed some improvement on distance vision when I went to bed.

I am now able to understand better what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 13:12. I only see a reflection of reality, What I am seeing is not the real place as far as how it looks like.

Another thought is that God’s word gives an image of how the future is going to look like and we can trust that one day that image will become crystal clear. Just like I saw right after my surgery, i was able to read my phone 10 inches away from my face so clearly. Then couples of hours later the healing began and it looks very blurry. I know that during this recovery time, I will evoke that image and I will be comforted.

Only trusting God and His perfect love for our lives will help us conquer our fears and still be a mouse with the heart of a tiger.

Day 5: Difficult day because I started working on the computer and even with less brightness it was still too bright for my left eye, so I kept it covered. In the evening I had a freaky experience, around 7:00 pm after applying drops I went to lay down and almost everything went dark on my right eye(no operated) . I got up right away and went out of the room and back to normal.  Try to lay down and same experience, got up all normal. Then on 3rd time nothing happened. But as you could imagine, it kept me thinking.  

About 1 hour later I applied the drops and something wonderful happened, my left eye started seeing very clear that I could read the kitchen signs around me. I honestly felt God’s presence and confirmation that everything is going fine. I was so comforted by that thought and evoked that image that I saw right after the surgery.

I slept well and applied artificial tear(AT) drops a couple of times during the night. I noticed I experienced dryness on my right eye. Perhaps because I have been using it so much lately.

Day 6: Today the eye has felt so recovered and I have worked on the computer longer than yesterday. I would prefer not but I have to for job reasons. Very key: MOIST eye. Visibility is a little better today. Thanks God, it is going well.

I did notice again that after taking the MethylPREDNISolone tablet(last one) my eye dried again within 1 hour (7:00 - 8:00 pm). This evening will be a good test since they are gone now.

Day 7: Woke up with dried eyes, even my right one. Perhaps that medicine, not sure.

I was able to see a little more clear.

Day 8: One week since the surgery,  today is very blurry and apparent regress but I’ve read enough about how the vision changes due to the healing, so I am at peace.

Day 9: Dr checkup and vision was 20/40 and I was glad. Dr removed contact lense but irritated my eye. So I have been dealing all afternoon with that. Vision is now blurry. They told me that it will be up to my healing when to do the right eye.

Day 10: I had a difficult night with eye dryness, I set my alarm to wake up every 3 hours so I could apply the tear drops.  My vision is blurrier than it was yesterday. I doubt my vision is still 20/40.

Day 11: Slept better I only applied drops twice during the night. Today I have not required the drops as much as yesterday. I did read in other blogs that it was common for vision to get worse after the contact is removed.

I highly recommend these blogs:

http://blog.freakingawesome.net/my-prk-adventure/

http://www.theadventurouswriter.com/blog/laser-eye-surgery-tips-healing-after-prk-lasik/


LESSONS LEARNED SO FAR:

- Keep eye moist as much as possible. Whenever feel eye is getting dry apply Systane drops(vials preferably because it contains less preservatives as explained to me by the doctor)

- Follow the drops schedule to the letter. For the first 5 days I went to bed and slept well but my eye got "thirsty" during that time I ignored it at the expense of resting. So when I got up on Sunday my eye was irritated, crusted and very red. I thought for a moment that my eye has gotten an infection.