By The Refresh You Staff 08.25.10 Category: Eyes, Refreshing Stories
Aaron was one of our winners in the Refresh You $5,000 Makeover for You and a Friend Contest. After we met with Aaron and his friend/wife Stephanie (who just got started in our Comprehensive Weight Management program), we asked them to blog about their experiences and give us all the first-person details. They agreed, and as they journey through their makeovers, we’ll share their updates.
When we last left Aaron, he’d been through some of the first steps of refractive surgery — an incredibly thorough eye exam, lots of consultations, lots of questions. Now it’s time for the actual surgery.
So I did it. I had the surgery. And it turns out I had myself all worked up for nothing.
Going into the LASIK procedure, I had experienced all sorts of widely swinging emotions and crazy thoughts. I just didn’t know exactly what to expect from the procedure and I certainly didn’t know what results to expect.
The funny thing about doctors is they don’t like making guarantees. And as an engineer it didn’t sit well with me that I couldn’t have a definite answer. I went ahead anyway, and sitting here now three weeks into my new glasses-free life, I can’t believe I ever had second thoughts.
The day of the procedure came very quickly, and before I knew it my lovely wife and I were driving to the Davis Duehr Dean clinic. After a short meeting with a nurse to go over paperwork and some pre-op and post-op instructions, I was given a sedative to “take the edge off.”
I was seated in a dimly lit room full of extremely comfortable recliners. Maybe it’s silly but I was happy to see someone else already resting in preparation for their own procedure. I wasn’t alone! I was told to sit with my eyes closed and relax until the doctor was ready for me. In the meantime my comrade was taken back for his procedure.
I have to admit I perked up my ears a bit, listening for cries of pain. But none came. When he came out a few minutes later he was smiling. Maybe it was the sedative but suddenly I felt very good about the whole thing.
Then my turn came. I’m afraid if I say the procedure was easy, fast and completely painless (literally and figuratively) I would be completely understating the situation, but those are the facts. I was lead out of the operating room after no more than 20 minutes and was allowed to go home.
I spent the next day or so laying low, sleeping and listening to audio books. There have been lots of eye drops and quite a few appointments with the doctor over the last three weeks but I’m very happy to say that my eyes are healing perfectly and I have 20/20 vision. Things haven’t always been perfect and for the first couple of days at work my eyes got pretty tired and dry, but they’ve improved every day. I know someday soon I’ll wake up and go the whole day without thinking about my eyes.
I thought having LASIK would just mean I could get rid of my glasses but it’s actually changed the way I perceive things. For my entire life my world consisted of only what would fit within the frame of my glasses and everything around the edges was a blur. Not anymore, and I have Davis Duehr Dean to thank for it. So thanks to the whole refractive surgery staff, the Dean Refresh You staff and special thanks to Dr. Vukich.