This Week's Blog Post

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I love these pretty little flowers. They are antiqued sterling silver and double sided. Great for so many designs! 

Available at Etsy.

Maudslay State Park
Prior to my eye surgery there was some decent weather. 

A pretty weed that was in the grass.

So Jim and I went for a nature walk in Newburyport, MA since I could not be in the presence of dirt for a couple of weeks afterwards!

We went here hoping to see the massive rhododendrons in bloom that we caught at the right time last year. This year they did not look so great. Some had already passed or were not in bloom yet.

Healing from eye surgery has taught me patience (not one of my strong points). 

I really had to take it easy. Surgery day I was home at 10:30am and was not allowed to do anything except eat and put eye drops in every hour. I spent the day on the sofa with my eyes closed listening to talk shows all day long. Boredom to the extreme! I was in bed around 7pm because I was so tired of the eyedrop routine. When you are asleep you do not need to worry about drops.

For some stupid reason I thought my life would be sort of back to normal by Monday after having surgery on the prior Thursday. Not so much! 

We discovered a tree with a heart in it!

My eyes needed MANY closing breaks. It felt a little meditative (something I also need to work on). 

I need to put less pressure on myself feeling like I need to be doing something productive every moment. 

This was also an experience I will gain strength from. I have been fearing it for years due to the risks. I had to give up control to a stranger.

Then I had to trust myself since my biggest fear was screwing up during the vulnerable period by accidentally touching an eye or something. I was worried about the most silly things like sneezing, getting an eyelash in the eye or shampooing my hair!

I was deathly afraid of the corneal flaps created on the eyes being blinked out of place which apparently can happen. Everything worked out ok.

Jim had asked me if this was a bucket list item. I guess it sort of was since it was always on my mind to do. Many of the things I want to do have a little bit of a fear factor attached to them. 

This was way more difficult to go through than jumping out of a plane! Signing the paperwork that acknowledges possible blindness or death (yes, it read death) from the procedure really freaked me out.

Healing Update
So Tuesday around 6:30pm I went to wash my face. When I looked in the mirror I was horrified and panicked! My left eye's pupil was significantly larger than the right and the iris much darker!!!! I thought I would go blind in that eye!!! Serious paranoia!

Luckily it was the one night of the week that my doctor works late so I immediately went to see her. Since this is not a reaction she has seen from Lasik before she contacted the head doctor at the laser center.

The next morning I met with that doctor as well as my surgeon. So I have a side effect that is not a side effect of Lasik! It is swelling within the left eye. I am so special!!! Apparently this would be a systemic reaction if I had something like lupus, arthritis, diabetes, the list goes on. However I do not knowingly have any of these things. (the "knowingly" thought of this a scary)

This laser center has performed over 22,000 of these procedures and has only seen this reaction 3 times. Really! It could be a freak thing that will heal up and never come back. If it comes back though I have to have all sorts of blood work done.

My pupil is currently stuck in a dilated position and according to the doctors this could become a permanent condition. This photo was taken Saturday, days later. My pupil is not budging. I have been given dilating drops to use twice before my next doctor's appointment this Tuesday. I am on a heavy duty steroid drop now versus the Lasik one. 

I just want this to be over with so I know if I need to accept my eyes looking creepy. Maybe they do not look so freaky to others but it really creeps me out. Once I accept the deformity it will actually be a little funny when people notice it! Even if my eyes stay this way I certainly do not regret having the surgery though since I am way better off now than before!

Thank you for stopping by. My eyes are getting better each day and I no longer need readers to see the computer screen or even read a book! Progress!!! I still use them when working with crimp beads though. Those tiny buggers!

Have a wonderful summer week everyone! ~Val