"See" You Soon!

Alright my lovely cyber-friends, wish me luck!

Think a happy thought and say a prayer for me at around 3pm Central Time on Monday. I'll be in what I hope will be a Valium-induced Happy-Zone while listening to my doc say, "now, look at the red light." Then ZAP! I will have purposely put abrasions on my own corneas in a procedure called PRK, which stands for... SomethingSomethingSomething.

Unlike LASIK, which lets you leave the hospital that day and have nearly X-ray vision that night, the recovery with PRK is longer and a bit less predictable. I've connected with three different victims, er, patients who have been through this. Their stories have been both similar and unique, if that makes a lick of sense. One was back to work in three days. Another could barely open her eyes for two. Pain levels varied. But two of the three are seeing perfectly now. The third had hers too recently to nail it down yet.

The difference between LASIK and PRK? With LASIK, you get a flap cut in the cornea, then zappage to the layer underneath. Voila. Perfect vision. My OB had it and was at the theater that night and doing two surgeries the next day. The downside can be dry eyes for a looooong time, maybe greater light sensitivity (esp. for us blue-eyed folks), and there's always a flap there. So don't get any infections underneath there and hope your little ones don't poke you in the eye.

With PRK, the doc just zaps the cornea, effectivly banging it flat with the laser, essentially intentionally putting abrasions on the corneas. As the abrasions heal -- which takes time -- the vision corrects. He thinks he can get me to 20/40, which would allow me to pass the driving test without correction. Considering that I cannot leave the bathroom without correction, that's hunky-dorey with me.

I asked the doc, "so what is my current vision? 20/200? what?" His response? "You're not even on the chart. You can't tell me which way the E at the top of the chart is facing."

So really, anything is an improvement. It'll take about a week to be up and running again. Several weeks to really see the results that I want. And things may even evolve from there over the next several months.

Best Namma Ever! is flying up tomorrow morning to take care of us all while I'm out of commission. God love her, she's still coming even after all of my ravings this morning about how the two Urban Kids have effectively become Human Snot Factories this weekend (I'll spare you the details...but UK2 is trying to join UK1's party...)

So if things are quiet here for a while, that's why.

Hope all of you had a beautiful Mother's Day -- I got a wonderful gift -- a 2-hour nap!!!!!