Recovering!

Tomorrow is the 7 day mark from my experience with LASIK. I have to say, I'm very surprised at the results! I never thought I'd be able to see this well. The day after, I went to Walmart and got me a new pair of sunglasses. I was able to see clear across the store, it was amazing!!

The actual procedure was a little more uncomfortable than I thought it'd be. They have to position a suction ring around the eye so it won't move quite as much. After they position that, the chair is swung under the laser that cuts the flap. The suction itself feels like someone squeezing the eye, and then once the laser is "docked" onto your eye, it feels like it's pushing it into the back of your head. It's not painful, just TONS of pressure, and I wasn't expecting it. And also, for the first 3 attempts on my right eye, every time the laser would dock, the suction would break and they would have to redo it. Therefore, my right eye is SO much more red and bloodshot than the left. Here's a picture of that eye the next day. I'll link it for the squeamish. It's like a bruise though, it's getting better every day, but it's changing colors. This one is from Sunday, it's still really red, but getting better. I would upload quality pictures from my camera (those are from my phone), but they're super clear and make it look worse than it actually is/was.

I got a Valium when I got there and went home afterwards and slept for a good 4 hours. They gave me a sleeping pill for the first night, so about 9 I took that The first 2 nights I had to wear what the doctors call a bubble mask, so I didn't rub my eyes in my sleep. I slept okay but kept waking up with the mask up above my forehead. I was scared to death I was going to rub the flaps out of place!!

The next morning I was well enough to drive myself back to the doctor for a post-op check. He said it all looked great and everything was exactly the way it should be. Yay! That night, I ventured out after dark for the first time. Lights have halos around them, but it's not to terribly bad. I did have an experience at Walmart that next night, losing my car in the parking lot. Lights had halos, I had a buggy full of groceries, and could NOT find my car. I finally went to the security guard and he found it right about the same time I did--on the other side of the parking lot. Whew! I was panicked for a minute...

Today my friend Suzie got hers done too! I dropped her off and they were able to see me real quick so I wouldn't have to go back in the morning. I didn't see my dr, he was out of town, but I saw another one and he said everything looks great and is healing nicely. I got the okay to go swimming and layout, but no tanning beds until I talk to my doctor next week. And I can't get any water in my eyes either, so I have to be careful.

My eyes are still super dry and itchy. They way they explained it to me is that the nerves from my eye to my brain were cut, so my brain doesn't know when my eyes are dry and to produce tears. When I start to notice things going blurry I need to use the drops and it makes a world of a difference.

Enough medical talk. What's everyone's plans for the 4th?

Post o' pictures

My apologies in advance for the length of this post. I know some people wanted to see pictures from New York, and I aim to please, so...here goes!! Let me know if you have any questions about where everything was taken! (Normally I'd upload the original size so you could click them to see them big, but since there were so many, they are kinda small. You can try clicking, but no promises they will be much bigger..and they're in order from the last day up to the first...I should've uploaded them backwards, but oh well.)

my bling from Tiffany's :) cheapest thing I could find!

Times Square at night. Took me forever to get this shot!

Would you believe we ran into my dad's cousin in Times Square?

Cast of Wicked. It was AWESOME!!

Getting something to drink before the show

Illegal picture in side Tiffany's. That crinkly piece was about $25,000 I believe

Another picture from inside Tiffany's

After we demolished our desserts at Serendipity

This is in so many movies, I was so excited to be here! "The Mall" in Central Park

Central Park

No clue why they were there, but I felt like I was watching Law & Order

Our hotel

Grand Central Station..so busy!!

I loved all the Brownstowns

Recognize it?

Ground Zero. Looks like a big construction site. Not really a hole in the ground, it's all street

level. We had to go into the store across the street and up a level to be able to see inside.

Eating in Little Italy

View from Staten Island Ferry

Next time I go I'll go to Ellis Island and see her up close

Top of Empire State Building

We did both observation decks

Subway!!

Library

St Patrick's Cathedral

So pretty

Rockefeller Center, much smaller than I thought it'd be.

Finally at the hotel! This was when we first got there

If you're still reading/looking, give me your address so I can send you a thank you note. I told you this was a long one!

I go in Wednesday at 1pm for Intralase LASIK and say goodbye to glasses for the next 20 or so years...or whenever I'll need reading glasses. Can I get a woohoo?! Dad will pick me up afterwards, take me back to my apartment and I'll take a nap for a few hours and then I go back Thursday morning (I can drive myself, it's awesome how quick the recovery is) for the dr to release me, and I'll be able to go to work that afternoon. That's the plan at least. I might take off Thursday too just to make sure everything is all healed up.

Let's see, what else is going on this summer...I'm a bridesmaid August 1st. My friend Heather from work is getting hitched, so lately I've been going to bridal showers and such. Here's a shot of the bride (the one to the left of me) with all but 2 of her bridesmaids at her bridal shower last weekend. One lives in North Carolina and the other was in Hawaii. Must be nice, huh!


My friend Sharon is having a baby towards the end of September, so I'm planning on throwing her a baby shower probably mid August. It's been fun having another friend pregnant. She's one of those cute pregnant people too, the kind that you can't even tell they are expecting from the back. Ugh!! :)

My old college roommate, Gina, and her husband and 2 kids are getting ready to move to Alaska! They live in Natchez, MS right now and had to come to Monroe to get some paperwork from ULM, so I was able to take off work that Friday and spend the day with them. They have a 2 year old and then the baby was 4 weeks that day, so we had a good time catching up and going to the zoo and the mall. Who knows when I'll see them again after they move. Gina said I can come visit because I want to see the Northern Lights so very badly.


Speaking of Alaska, mom and dad leave 4 weeks from tomorrow to head out for their Alaskan cruise. They absolutely love road trips, so they're making the same trek they did last year up to Seattle, and then boarding the boat for the cruise. They'll be gone almost a whole month. Dad asked if I was going to stay at the house while they were gone and I quickly agreed. I don't have internet or cable at the apartment, so that'd be a treat for me!

Not much else is on the agenda for the rest of the summer. My friend Suzie and I got tickets to see Taylor Swift and Kellie Pickler in Shreveport September 10th, so we're looking forward to that.

That about catches up everything that's been going on. I've been spending a lot of time with this little girl too. She sure does have my heart...