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.
Here’s Aaron, as he’s preparing for refractive eye surgery:
I can’t quite put into words just how exciting it has been competing in the Dean Refresh You Makeover contest. And now that we’ve won I’m nearly speechless.
I suppose when this whole journey started I never really expected to win (does anyone really expect to win?) so I never really needed to acknowledge the concerns I’ve always had about refractive eye surgery.
Then we won and I have to admit I was a little freaked out. A million things crossed my mind in the days before our meeting with the professionals at Dean. Was refractive surgery really the right thing for me? Was it safe? What were the nitty-gritty details that they don’t put in the pamphlets? Well, let’s just say that my concerns have been very well satisfied.
Steph and I each met with the whole Dean Refresh You team including the program managers from each of our chosen programs. My meeting was with Deb, the clinical manager of Ophthalmology at Davis Duehr Dean. Over the next half-hour Deb explained all of my refractive surgery options and went over the process of determining my eligibility for those options.
It turns out that refractive surgery isn’t one-size-fits-all. She introduced me to the bio of each doctor, answered all of my initial questions and threw in some comforting facts and figures. I left that initial meeting feeling confident that I wanted to take the next step.
The next step came in the form of a big official consultation at Davis Duehr Dean. Having worn glasses my whole life, I’m very familiar with eye appointments but this was the eye appointment to end all eye appointments. Maybe I lost track somewhere along the way but there were at least three separate eye scans on very large expensive-looking machines.
This in itself was comforting because it became clear to me that they were seriously going to learn everything about my eyes that they could. Then on top of all the scans I still had a regular eye exam (I’m still not sure which was clearer, 1 or 2).
The best part for me was meeting with my doctor, Dr. Vukich. He sat with me for what I felt like was quite some time answering every question I could think of like, “What happens if I twitch my eye while you’re lasering it?” It turns out they’ve considered everything. I left the consultation with my hesitations completely replaced by excitement.
Over the next couple of days I mentioned to numerous people that I was considering LASIK. I was shocked at the number who responded “Oh, I had LASIK. I love it. You’ll be so happy.” That was all I needed, my mind was made up. So now I’m less than a week away and my excitement grows everyday as does my annoyance with my glasses.
Next time you see me, I’ll be sans glasses! Woohoo!!
Deb Lorfeld (from Davis Duehr Dean) and Aaron pose for our photographer, just after talking about all the options in refractive surgery. Are you ready, Aaron?
If you’re thinking about refractive surgery, getting started with Davis Duehr Dean is easy — just click here for more information. You can also call 608-282-3937 or complete this online form. The initial consultation is totally free. You do NOT need to be a Dean Clinic patient or Dean Health Plan member to have refractive surgery at Davis Duehr Dean.
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