10 years... 10! 10 YEARS, man!
This is, surprisingly, (well, if you can do math, perhaps not so surprisingly), a post about the World Champion Yankees. Though, being the die hard fan I am, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the Yankees won the World Series. So, despite the multiple mentions about the 27 time World Champion New York Yankees here, that's now what this post is about.
This post is to note the fact that 10 years ago today, I had LASIK. Actually, almost exactly 10 years ago to the hour, I was in an office in Burlington, MA going through the pre-op checks and about to have my life changed in a way that I couldn't even conceive of at that time.
I had done my research, I had talked to my eye doctor and the surgeon for hours prior to agreeing to have the surgery. And I had been shown the "if all goes well, this is what you expect your vision will be like". It was... well.. fuzzy. Better, but then again, I was blind as a bat before, so pretty much anything would be better. But I yearned for the ability to see the world is at least enough fashion as to be able to find things other than walls without my glasses on. If I could see the alarm clock in the middle of the night and know what time it was? That would be amazing. So, I shelled out what seemed like a kings ransom ($6000, not insignificant to a 24 year old), signed the waivers, and went under the knife.
I remember leaving the office after the surgery. Everything was... hazy. Misty white, it looked like there was gauze over my eyes. My I remember clearly as I was helped into the car and brought home the one thing that stuck in my mind as I was leaving.... "That sign up there said 'EXIT'... and I could *SEE* it". The rest of that day is mostly a dim memory. John had bought a new video game and played it, I rested on the couch, sleeping liberally. I was tired, and I hurt and I had a huge regimen of drops and antibiotics and other things to observe. But I do remember clearly waking up the next day... I rolled over to reach for my glasses. A common reflex, I had done it every morning for over 15 years. And stopped dead when I could see the alarm clock in crystal clear clarity... My hands went to my face. Was I so out of it that I had already put the glasses on? But no, the glasses were, indeed, not on my face. Nor were they by my bed. But I could see the clock. I could see the wall. I could see the poster on the wall. I could see not only the images, but could read the text. And not just the title of the film, but the actors, the directors, and everything written on it. I must have spent a good 45 minutes in bed, staring at everything in my room with utter disbelief that I could see it.
I went back for my checkup, there was a 1 day followup, as there was a 3 day, a 1 week, 2 week, 1 month, 2 month, 3 month, 6 month, and 1 year. I was the textbook patient. Eyes were healthy, no scarring, no shifting of the flap, no signs of infection, and 20/10 vision. Over the next few months, my vision adjusted as they said it would. 20/15, 20/20, 20/25, 20/10... I went from near sighted to far sighted to nothing (20/20 apparently you can't be near or far sighted, but you can at 20/10... go figure). And when they declared my vision stable, I was 20/15 in my left eye, 20/20 in my right, and 20/15 overall with the ability to pick out about half of the 20/10 line. A far cry from the 20/40 I could hope for. And a much further cry from the 20/300+ I had before.
10 years have gone by. My eyes have shifted a little as I've aged. I'm 20/20 in my left now, 20/25 in my right. Overall I still have 20/20 vision. Gone are the days of reaching for eyeglasses, it's never a thought. Most days, I take it for granted that I can see clearly without help. But I do take a few moments here and there throughout the year, and almost always around the anniversary of my surgery to marvel at the change. I remember saying something about if I could get even 10 years of vision out of the procedure without needing glasses or contacts that the surgery would practically pay for itself. And my verdict? If I were that 24 year old, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I'd pay double, triple what I paid, and consider it money well spent. Just to not have one of those "oh crap, where are my glasses? I can't see anything how am I going to find them" moments would be worth it. And I've had 3652 days in a row without one. And when I look back, I treasure every one of those days.
Oh.. And the Yankees won the World Series last night, so all is right in the world today :)
This post is to note the fact that 10 years ago today, I had LASIK. Actually, almost exactly 10 years ago to the hour, I was in an office in Burlington, MA going through the pre-op checks and about to have my life changed in a way that I couldn't even conceive of at that time.
I had done my research, I had talked to my eye doctor and the surgeon for hours prior to agreeing to have the surgery. And I had been shown the "if all goes well, this is what you expect your vision will be like". It was... well.. fuzzy. Better, but then again, I was blind as a bat before, so pretty much anything would be better. But I yearned for the ability to see the world is at least enough fashion as to be able to find things other than walls without my glasses on. If I could see the alarm clock in the middle of the night and know what time it was? That would be amazing. So, I shelled out what seemed like a kings ransom ($6000, not insignificant to a 24 year old), signed the waivers, and went under the knife.
I remember leaving the office after the surgery. Everything was... hazy. Misty white, it looked like there was gauze over my eyes. My I remember clearly as I was helped into the car and brought home the one thing that stuck in my mind as I was leaving.... "That sign up there said 'EXIT'... and I could *SEE* it". The rest of that day is mostly a dim memory. John had bought a new video game and played it, I rested on the couch, sleeping liberally. I was tired, and I hurt and I had a huge regimen of drops and antibiotics and other things to observe. But I do remember clearly waking up the next day... I rolled over to reach for my glasses. A common reflex, I had done it every morning for over 15 years. And stopped dead when I could see the alarm clock in crystal clear clarity... My hands went to my face. Was I so out of it that I had already put the glasses on? But no, the glasses were, indeed, not on my face. Nor were they by my bed. But I could see the clock. I could see the wall. I could see the poster on the wall. I could see not only the images, but could read the text. And not just the title of the film, but the actors, the directors, and everything written on it. I must have spent a good 45 minutes in bed, staring at everything in my room with utter disbelief that I could see it.
I went back for my checkup, there was a 1 day followup, as there was a 3 day, a 1 week, 2 week, 1 month, 2 month, 3 month, 6 month, and 1 year. I was the textbook patient. Eyes were healthy, no scarring, no shifting of the flap, no signs of infection, and 20/10 vision. Over the next few months, my vision adjusted as they said it would. 20/15, 20/20, 20/25, 20/10... I went from near sighted to far sighted to nothing (20/20 apparently you can't be near or far sighted, but you can at 20/10... go figure). And when they declared my vision stable, I was 20/15 in my left eye, 20/20 in my right, and 20/15 overall with the ability to pick out about half of the 20/10 line. A far cry from the 20/40 I could hope for. And a much further cry from the 20/300+ I had before.
10 years have gone by. My eyes have shifted a little as I've aged. I'm 20/20 in my left now, 20/25 in my right. Overall I still have 20/20 vision. Gone are the days of reaching for eyeglasses, it's never a thought. Most days, I take it for granted that I can see clearly without help. But I do take a few moments here and there throughout the year, and almost always around the anniversary of my surgery to marvel at the change. I remember saying something about if I could get even 10 years of vision out of the procedure without needing glasses or contacts that the surgery would practically pay for itself. And my verdict? If I were that 24 year old, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I'd pay double, triple what I paid, and consider it money well spent. Just to not have one of those "oh crap, where are my glasses? I can't see anything how am I going to find them" moments would be worth it. And I've had 3652 days in a row without one. And when I look back, I treasure every one of those days.
Oh.. And the Yankees won the World Series last night, so all is right in the world today :)