Hey Haley

Laser Days of Summer

I’ve worn glasses almost every day since I started driving at 16. There were a couple of stints with contacts, but the discomfort and hassle of it all always drove me back into the thorny arms of my wireframe spectacles. I wouldn’t really even mind wearing glasses if I could do it every now and then, to read, or to work, but having to wear them with a bike helmet or a bridesmaid’s dress just got to be too much for me.

As of Thursday, my shackles have been cut. With a laser. I got Lasik eye surgery here in Mexico (gasp!). Don’t worry, this isn’t some Tijuana chop shop - my doctor is a cornea specialist who operated on Hideki and his brother. It’s been a little over 48 hours and I can already see better than I could without my glasses. I should be at full recovery in 2 weeks, but I’m seeing better every minute.

The whole procedure took 15 minutes and requires nothing more to keep you sane than anesthetic eye drops and two little stuffed raccoons to squeeze. Afterwards, my body sort of shut down, just wanting to rest after experiencing some sort of perceived trauma. After a little nap, I was pretty much back to normal, just wearing plastic lenses with air holes in them taped to my face.

My left eye, which was worse than the other one before the surgery, is already near perfect, with the right eye slowly catching up due to more inflammation (totally normal and undetectable to someone else’s naked eye). For the first day, the right eye felt dry and like there was a contact in it, but now I have just slight dryness and mild sensitivity to light. I also have about 3 or 4 freaky-looking blood spots on my eyeballs, but I’m assured these are normal as well. There’s no actual blood sprung during the procedure, they are more like bruises from the suction cup used to help filet my protective corneal gel. Yum!

Today I felt the rain on my face without impediment and all I could do was smile from ear to ear towards the clouds.