my utter lack of blogging lately has been entirely due to playing a Facebook game called pack rat. It’s a card trading game and is completely addicting. I’ve completely neglected numerous obligations to friends and household maintenance due to this game.
In other news, my eye doctor says my eyes are healing exactly as expected. Though they’re still blurry and I’m really impatient about it, that’s good news and makes me relieved. I was a bit worried avoid the pace.
I woke up this morning with much improvement in my vision. It’s still not 20/20, but I can read text at a distance, and such. I’m back at work – one thing I’ve noticed is that I still can’t see facial expressions at a distance, so I can’t tell what my co-workers are doing/expressing when they’re walking down the hallway toward me. But that will clear up soon, I’m sure.
While I was home puttering around, I was okay to watch movies and such. So I saw a few things that I could add to my movies list.
Seeing with my own eyeballs, after wearing glasses or contacts since second
grade.
I visited the eye doctor this afternoon, and she took out the bandage contact lenses and checked out my eyes. She says everything is normal for this stage of PRK surgery, and that my vision should improve drastically in the next 48 hours. My cornea has healed completely, and the blurriness is caused by a slight ridge from the healing process that runs right down the center of my pupil. That should flatten out soon and my vision should be 20/20 within a couple of days.
She also said that my frustration is typical of most PRK patients, and probably more so because I read and use the internet more than most people do. So I’m a lot more optimistic (and less cranky) than yesterday.
My eyesight has improved quite a bit overnight, and I can read text at least. It’s not perfect, but at least I’m seeing progress. I’ll probably still spend the day listening to audiobooks and watching dvds (I’m part way thorough The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which was puttling me to sleep, and a mystery story that was pretty good.)
But I’m less discouraged and worried about the outcome.
I guess from what the doctor’s were saying, with the PRK surgery (as opposed to lasik, which is quick to heal) it’s fairly normal for my vision to still be pretty bad, even today and tomorrow and even on Thursday. But had I known it would take quite so long and be such a disabling and frustrating thing, I probably wouldn’t have gone through with it. This better fix itself, and it better be soon, and ultimately better be worth it. At this point, I’m not sure it is.
Forgive me if I make more mistakes than usual; it’s rather hard to see the screen right now. After my last blog post on Saturday morning, we went to see the eye doctor, who told me my vision at that time was perfectly normal one day after surgery. I had 20/50 vision in my right eye and 20/70 in my left. It’s much worse now, though, because my eyes have started to heal, so the surface of my cornea is uneven. Yesterday my eyes really hurt. Today that seems to be over and I’m just experiencing blurriness. It’s all relative, though – even at it’s worst, the pain was tiny compared to what I’ve been through before.
The blurriness will probably remain through Tuesday, when I go to see my eye doctor (Dr. Marjorie Knotts – she’s been my optometrist for years and is very good) to take out the bandage contact lenses.
Stephanie had to go to work today, so I’m going to hang out at home cuddled up on the couch with Spike, listening to audio books.
Boy I hope this gets better. My vision is somewhat improved, but not nearly what I expected. From what they said in the office, it should be 20/20 today, and then get more blurry on sunday and monday, before turning around and improving again on Tuesday, wednesday, thursday. It’s definitely not 20/20 now. In fact I’m sitting with my face up to the monitor to be able to tell what I’m typing.
My cardiac catheterization went really well today. We found out that my arteries are clear and functioning great, and my heart’s in good shape. I have high blood pressure, which I will now be taking medication for. And we were already planning a heart-healthy nutrition and exercise program, so we’re already doing the right thing.
My bouts with pleurisy are still a mystery. But ruling out my heart as the source was a major relief. I see an allergist on Monday to hopefully narrow down the suspects further. In all, I’m very, very happy with the results of today.