Blah, blah, more writing.

[feuervogel]

I'm having trouble focusing, and I need to swing by my eye doctor to drop off some frames for computer glasses before COUP, so I think I'll wrap up my writing for the day. (My vision since LASIK is better than 20/20, and I'm a little farsighted, so we'll be turning my old reading glasses into a pair of computer glasses, since I spend so much time at the computer these days.)

Net word count: 499
Total word count: 61579

I need to decide if I want to keep one scene in the POV it's currently in, or if I want to change it. I may want to change it to be consistent with the rest of the chapter. I don't know. What I do know is that I have to get some focus on if I want to get this finished before I go to Germany.

(holy shit, I'm going to Germany! In like 6 weeks! Yikes!)

Comments

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

You had LASIK? Would you be willing to tell me a little about how it went? My vision sucks, in a year or so I'll have insurance that'll pay for it, and it would make me very, very happy- I think. Though they may have to give me triple the usual dose of Xanax or whatever to keep me in the chair.

[feuervogel]

I went to a TLC vision center at my optometrist's recommendation. Because I have steep corneas, they had to do the fanciest laser-guided hands-free blah blah, which is (of course) the most expensive. And my insurance didn't cover it, so it was almost 5 grand out of pocket. (I was employed full-time then.) I also have very dry eyes, so I had to use extra eyedrops (Restasis) for a month before and several months after.

It's a week or two of eyedrops before (antibiotics and a steroid) and after the surgery. You *definitely* need someone to drive you both ways.

With my prescription (about -5.5 in both eyes), it took less than a minute per eye, once they cut the flap. The flap-cutting was the worst part: they put this suction cup on your eyeball, and everything goes dark. I was flipping out. I kinda wish I'd asked for extra Xanax, actually. But once it was over, it wasn't so bad. Going home was bright - it's like a million tiny scratches on the cornea - but the stylish sunglasses they gave me worked.

The healing period is annoying; you're supposed to either tape these hard plastic things over your eyes or wear these racquetball goggles to prevent the flap moving while you sleep.

Overall, though, I'm satisfied with the results so far (it's been 2 years now). I like being able to see when I get out of bed in the morning. I like not having to either worry about my contacts drying out because I stayed up too late at the con or wear my glasses, which weren't as good at correcting. I like not having to travel with lens solution.

The one thing I miss, though, is really close focus. I used to be able to focus like an inch or two from my face. Now it's more like 6. I don't mind the tradeoff, though.

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

Yeah, just reading that made my breathing hitch- it sucks that they can't just put you under. How many days do you have to wear the thingies over your eyes when you sleep?

My prescription is bad enough that they don't keep contacts of it at the Walmart vision center- it's negative thirteen or something? And I've tried, but can't, wear contacts, and my lenses have to be triple-compressed and cost over three hundred dollars US a shot. So I'm ready, but I'm also nervous about it.

[feuervogel]

Yeah, you have to be able to look at the red light so it knows where to cut. (My husband, a 3D graphics guy, watched it on closed circuit TV in an observation room, and all his talk was "man, they've got some fancy tracking blah blah blah.")

I think you're supposed to wear them for like a month? I don't know. I decided it was annoying and gave up early. (I sleep on my side. The goggles don't work.)

A friend of mine has similarly bad vision, and she said if she got surgery, it'd have to involve these ocular implant things (intraocular lenses, which google tells me is a cataract surgery). I'm not an optometrist, so (as always) ask yours ;)

The upside of LASIK is that it's over really quickly. I think I was in the surgery suite for 15 minutes, tops. Your surgeon might be able to work with you (extra xanax) if you let them know your anxiety level in advance.