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I Can See! I Can See!
8/8/00
Janet Parks
About 3 years before moving on the
boat, we were in our planning stages and making lists of the things that
we needed to do in order to be prepared for living aboard.
These items included things that needed to be done while we still
had our comprehensive insurance and could easily meet all appointments.
One item on my list was to get corrective eye surgery.
I had a fear of being on the boat in a storm and losing my contacts
at a critical moment. With
20/400 vision, I couldn’t see the end of my nose clearly without my
contacts. If I lost them, I
would have had to find my glasses (not very useful in the pounding rain)
or attempt to put in new contacts while bouncing around in the boat (oh
sure, that would be easy!) and would leave the boat shorthanded and in
possible danger. To eliminate
that fear, I decided to have corrective eye surgery, but since I was
petrified to have it done, it kept being shoved to the bottom of my list
(“I’ve still got time to get it done”).
During the last year before moving
aboard, I started to research the surgery procedures and eye doctors. The topic came up on one of the cruising women’s internet
discussion lists that I was on and many women who had the surgery were
saying how much they loved it and wished they had done it sooner.
I asked one of them about the actual surgery and she gave an
excellent explanation of the procedure step-by-step and what she
experienced with each step. It
resolved most of my fears of the surgery and gave me the confidence to
finally go ahead with it.
My first step was to pick a
surgeon…the most important step in the process!
I began talking to others that had the surgery to see who they used
and if they recommended them. Blaine
got a lot of feedback about this topic on a discussion list at work.
The results came back loud and clear.
There was one surgeon that many people did not recommend.
His surgeries were not always successful.
He was immediately off my list!
I got high recommendations for two eye centers, Duke and TLC.
I began researching both of them.
TLC Laser Center came out as my top choice!
Why TLC?
TLC Laser Centers and affiliated eye doctors are available all over
the US, so I would be able to go to an affiliated doctor if I needed to
while I was cruising, which was a plus.
Many top athletes were trusting their eyes to TLC with fabulous
success. In my personal poll of people, TLC, both in Raleigh and
across the country, came back with all successful results…no
complications. Dr. Santander
at TLC Raleigh was highly recommended as an excellent surgeon.
He is tops in his field. TLC
includes all of their services with the price of the exam…this includes
the initial eye exam, the surgery, the eye drops needed after surgery and
the follow-up exams. I was
covered under the VSP eye insurance program and TLC gave a 25% discount to
VSP participants. But the
most important item was the TLC Lifetime Commitment program…TLC stands
behind their services so strongly that they will perform retreatment at
any time in the future for free. They
are confident that they will do it right the first time and there will not
be any complications in the future.
So my next step was to make an
appointment! They have
demonstrations that you can attend where you can watch an actual surgery
and talk to the person afterwards about his/her experience, but I really
didn’t want to see the surgery before I had it done.
I found out that my eye doctor was a TLC affiliated doctor, so I
could go to him for my initial exams.
I made an appointment to visit my eye doctor and find out which eye
surgery was best for me. It looked like PRK or Lasik would be right for me.
With PRK, the laser is applied to the surface of your cornea to
reshape your eye’s curvature. This
removes the protective surface of your eye so it takes longer to recover.
With Lasik surgery, they cut a hinged flap in the cornea, fold it
back and use the laser to reshape the inner layers of your cornea to
duplicate your contact or eye glass prescription; then the flap is closed
and your eye heals naturally, so it has a faster recovery period and was
recommended for my eyes. I
had my eye exam as well as topography and cornea thickness tests to make
sure I was a good candidate for the surgery.
I passed all the tests and was ready for surgery, so they scheduled
me for surgery.
I had to have my contacts out of my
eyes for one week before my eye exam and two weeks before surgery to let
my eyes stabilize without my contacts in.
I was originally scheduled for surgery 2 days after my eye exam.
It was possible that I would not be able to have surgery on that
day, since my contacts would have only been out for 1 ½ weeks and my eyes
may have not stabilized yet. One
test on the morning of surgery would have been able to tell if my eyes
were ready. Instead, on the
morning of surgery, my eyes were still dilated from my eye exam two days
before. No surgery for me that day.
I had to reschedule two weeks later.
Two more weeks of my horrible glasses (I was having trouble
adapting to my glasses after wearing contacts for 20 years)! Then the day finally arrived.
After one month of wearing my glasses, I was really ready to have
the surgery!
Boy, was I nervous!
Petrified was more like it. As
with all surgery, there are always possibilities of complications.
I had read the release form that stated I knew that these
possibilities did exist. I
was very afraid of losing my eyesight even though there have been no
reports of anyone losing their eyesight from this surgery.
Blaine came with me since TLC allows you to bring a person with you
and that person can be with you for the entire process except the actual
surgery. They performed
another topography and cornea thickness test to be sure my eyes were ready
for surgery. When a spot
opened up in the prep room, I was prepped for surgery with Blaine at my
side. They give you valium to
calm you before surgery (I needed that!).
While the valium is taking affect, they clean your eye area, put a
cap over your hair, cover your shoes with booties and put various eye
drops in your eyes to prepare them for surgery.
Dr. Santander came to talk to all of us in the prep room about the
surgery and recovery. Then it
was my turn!
I was taken into the operating room
and covered with a blanket to keep me warm, since the room is so cold. They gave me a stuffed animal to hold on to (like a security
blanket!). One eye was
covered and I was told to stare at a blinking red light with the other
eye. Dr. Santander pulled
back my eyelid, so I could not blink.
It just felt like they taped around my eye.
It didn’t hurt. Then
he cut the flap in my cornea with a smooth quick motion and folded back
the flap. I briefly lost sight of the blinking red light, just like
they said I would. Then the
laser sculpted my inner cornea. I
could hear the popping sounds the laser made, but did not feel a thing.
It only took a few seconds. Then
he put an eye drop in, put the flap back over my eye and brushed it to
make sure it was sealed securely. (Blaine
called this wallpapering my eye, since it was like brushing all the air
bubbles out to make sure it was secured to the wall.)
Then he did the next eye the same way.
Dr. Santander talks to you the
entire time. He talks to you
about things of interest to you, so you are not thinking about the
surgery. He also tells you what he is doing each step of the way and
what I should expect, so there were no surprises in the surgery.
When he was done, he told me to sit up and read the clock on the
wall. It was very foggy, but
I was able to read the clock on the wall!! I could have NEVER have done that before without my contacts.
Dr. Santander said I was an excellent patient, since I didn’t
move my eye the entire time during surgery (I was too scared of a
complication to even think of moving my eye during surgery!)
I was taken to a recovery room and talked to a doctor before I
left. I was at the TLC Center
for about 4-5 hours and the actual surgery was only about 10-15 minutes
long.
What about recovery?
Well, I was able to read the street signs on the way home!
I was told to go home and take a nap to rest my eyes (very
important) and then watch some TV in the evening, since watching TV gave
my eyes the correct blink rate to help heal them.
So I took my nap to sleep off the valium and then watched TV (which
I was able to easily see!) I had to use eye drops 3 times a day for 4 days and cover my
eyes at night for 3 nights with patches they gave to me, so I couldn’t
rub my eyes in my sleep.
I had surgery at 3:00 in the
afternoon on Thursday and had to go back for my follow-up appointment at
9:00 on Friday morning. I had
20/20 vision in one eye and between 20/25 and 20/30 vision in my other
eye!! The doctor said my eyes
looked great and could tell that I had taken a nap after my surgery as
instructed; he said he can always tell, since the recovery is so much
better when the patient rests his/her eyes after surgery.
I was given my permission to drive (that my vision was good enough
to drive legally). I went to
my regular eye doctor a week later for a follow-up exam and had 20/15
vision in both eyes!! Amazing!!
From 20/400 to 20/15!
I have kept my 20/15 vision in all
my follow-up exams since then. They
said your eyes may fluctuate a bit for a few months.
Mine have been fine. The
only problem I have is a slight ghosting image on lights at night.
It is a glare from the lights where a portion of the light or
lighted sign appears under the actual item, like a partial ghosting of the
image underneath the light I am looking at.
I got that about 3 days after my surgery and it has improved since
then. My eye doctor said it
was normal and that it would eventually go away.
Would I do it over again?
You bet I would!! I
would highly recommend the TCL Laser Center and particularly Dr. Santander
at TLC Raleigh. TLC makes you
feel very comfortable with the surgery.
It is amazing that I could see so well, so quickly, after surgery!
My vision is fabulous now! So
crisp! And, I no longer have
contacts to mess with. But most importantly I do not have to worry about losing my
contacts and my vision when I need it the most. I can see, I can see!!
NOTE:
To learn more about Lasik surgery and TLC Laser Centers, you can
visit their website at www.tlcvision.com.
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