This post will be brief, as the title may suggest — I had Lasik Surgery yesterday. What prompted me to do this is that after wearing glasses for over 25 years, I found myself constantly removing my eye glasses. Not only were they annoying me, and that my prescription kept changing nearly every year, they were severely interfering with my photography! I’d look through the view finder, which the diopter was adjusted in one direction to the maximum level, then try to look at my subject outside of the camera and it would be blurry.

So, after two years of contemplation I decided to take the plunge, get out of my comfort zone, overcome my fears..yadda yadda yadda..all that I preach about it and get Lasik. There were countless times that I wanted to chicken out, but I was committed. I was going to do this darned thing. I was reminded this week when I went out to play with my camera just how much I wanted to be able to see at a distance.

1/1000 f 5.6 ISO 200 Canon 60D 70-300mm at 200mm

So, Tuesday was THE day. I had warned my doc that I am a nervous patient. I was instructed to take two shots of Whiskey before I showed up in the office, but I’m not a whiskey fan. When he came in, the first words out of his mouth was – Valium ! YES !! Two please ! Honestly, I took the lowest dose and it took the edge off of my fear. I started to worry when they put a surgical hair bonnet, and surgical booties on my feet. Oh…this is real surgery.

Into the chair I went, with two huge machines on either side, two nurses and the eye doctor. I was given strict instructions not to move an inch, keep your feet still and squeeze the squeezie ball that they had given me. The procedure overall was over within ten minutes or so. I don’t know honestly, I just know it was one of the craziest, most out-of-body experiences I’ll ever go through. Think Space Mountain on acid.

Both of my eyelids and lashes were taped down, then they placed some type of suction cup thingie on me, and that’s when the crazy colors, lights and pressure began. The actual red laser portion wasn’t bad, except I wasn’t expecting to smell burning..well you know..ICK ! Hated the water flushing on the end and in particular when he scraped the tissue off my eyeball. You get the idea.

My biggest fear was that I would lose my eyesight. When I was done, they asked me to sit up, and I didn’t want to open my eyes because they burned so much. Also, because I hadn’t been able to blink the whole time. They asked what time it was on the wall clock – 3:22 p.m. Yippee ! I can see ! After a short check up after the surgery, I was sent home. I tracked down the bottle of champagne that I had since New Year’s and with a 800 mg of Ibuprofen and the whole champagne bottle, within three hours I was feeling much better.

Went this morning for an early morning followup, I drove myself to the doctor’s office. Maybe not the smartest thing to do. All the car lights and white things like snow and fences have an aura to them. I wish I could see people’s auras too, But alas,that’s not part of the benefits of Lasik. My vision is now 20/25 and I can see distance now. Hard to adjust not seeing up close, I keep asking people what time it is, even though I have a watch on my arm.

So I now know what those alien abductees are talking about. Bright white lights in an UFO shape with stars in the background, orange, red and blue lights. Smudges, pressure, and in general a feeling of complete helplessness as you have no idea what is coming up next.

So I walked the walk…now I’m going to find another bottle of champagne to numb the pain.