My LASIK Experience - Surgery Day - Part I

This blog post is continued from my last post at http://razzberrycorner.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-lasik-experience-pre-surgery.html.  It tells about my LASIK surgery experience.

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Before I get to the surgery, let me tell you about my doctor.  I saw Jonathan D. Solomon, M.D., from Solomon Eye Associates Physicians and Surgeons in Maryland.   

From their webpage:

Dr. Jonathan D. Solomon has been named one of the Top Doctors in America. ‘Peer-nominated and selected by the nation’s leading providers of information on top doctors’, Dr. Solomon has been featured in the April edition as a top doctor for the Washington, DC area for Vision Correction Surgery.   

I saw a magazine article listing Dr Solomon as one of the top doctors in the US and I was sold.  I wanted a good doctor to do my LASIK because maybe he'd understand my past strabismus problems.

My surgery was scheduled for Sep 12, 2013, which is today.  I had started on the OTC eye drops and ointment, but as of Mon Sep 9. 2013 the doctor's office had not successfully called in the prescription for the Zymaxid  and Bromday.  I had called the doctor's office multiple times and was frustrated.  I also had to pay for the surgery still, so I called on Sep 9th, Monday, to make sure the person who received payment would be available that afternoon so I could stop by.

To my surprise the doctor's office told me I was rescheduled for surgery on Sep 10 2013, Tues, as the doctor had an emergency and wouldn't be available on Thur.  So it was Tues or reschedule for a month down the line.  I quickly shuffled around all my work responsibilities so I could take Tues and Wed off vice Thur and Fri, the doctor's office finally called in the Zymaxid  and Bromday prescriptions to my pharmacy, and I was ready for surgery.  However, the change in dates really stressed me out.

The afternoon before surgery Randy went to three different pharmacies to find one that carried the Zymaxid  and Bromday when I was finishing up last minute things at work.  I couldn't have managed without Randy.  Who knew that pharmacies don't carry these meds?  I recommend getting them early to avoid this last minute dash if you are planning LASIK.  I started on the Zymaxid  and Bromday drops the night before surgery.

The day of surgery I was told to arrive at 3pm at the TLC Laser Eye Surgery Center where Dr Solomon was working.  I guess the doctor rents TLC equipment.  I was retested at 3pm and had all these pretty pictures of my eyes printed, the eye tests took about 10 minutes and I was sent back to the waiting room to wait till 4pm.  I was called at about 3:30 for surgery.  I asked the woman if I was the last patient of the day and she said yes.  I was told to put on a cap and booties.  Randy was allowed to join me in the room.  The assistant asked me if I wanted something to calm my nerves prior to surgery and I said yes, remembering a friend of mine said her doctor gave her a Valium before surgery and it helped to calm her.  The woman brought 2 Aleve and a Xanax .5 mg.  I have never had Xanax and it kinda concerned me.  I'm not into drugs, and heard that Xanax is strong and addictive.  Just the idea of taking a Xanax freaked me out even more.  Now I was scared of surgery and concerned about taking Xanax.

I closed my eyes and took the Xanax and Aleve.  The Xanax didn't start affecting me right away, it took about 30 minutes or so.  It was weird, eventually it made my body slow, but my mind was still normal, I was thinking just as fast as before.  But my speech became slow and my physical movements became slow, as if I was drunk.  But inside my brain was still normal!  This wasn't a fun drug!  I'm sure everyone is different, but I wont be taking Xanax again!

Dr Solomon tested my eyes yet again right before surgery.  He explained monovision to me, which I did NOT want.  Monovision is when one eye is used for distances and one for close up sight, it makes it so the patient doesn't need reading glasses.  Previously my optometrist had me try monovision using contacts and I hated it!  It made me dizzy and gave me headaches.  I wore monovision contacts for a week and it was just plain miserable, my brain couldn't handle it.  I don't mind reading glasses, although right now I don't really need reading glasses unless my eyes are tired.  I was told by the surgeon who did my strabismus surgeries, Dr. Birdsong, that reading glasses help to relieve stress on the eyes and I should use them if my eyes are tired.

I told Dr Solomon No to monovision.  He explained he was going to make my right eye dominant because strabismus patients need one eye to be dominant or the eyes fight each other and strabismus can occur again.  I was concerned about losing the ability to read immediately after LASIK and he explained that LASIK wouldn't affect my reading vision.  He went over the details of the surgery, and then I was walked into the surgery room.  I was terrified!  Here we go!

Randy was allowed to watch my surgery through a window into the surgery room and up close over a TV screen displayed through that window. 

Stay tuned for the surgery itself in my next post.