I did it! I was an anxious ball of misery all morning, but the procedure itself was not nearly as bad as I feared. It was really quick and easy, and only a little bit uncomfortable. Dr. Hung (who is the nicest, kindest doctor I've ever had) said it would feel like this—and then he flicked me on the shoulder. He was right, the laser felt like a flick on my eyeball, even with the numbing drops. He had said it would take 3 minutes, and I think 3 minutes of eyeball-flicking would have been more than a little unpleasant, but he really meant 3 minutes from the time I walked through the door of the laser room to the time I walked out. (I'd already had pupil-constricting drops earlier in the waiting room.) My pupil is still tiny, so my vision is a little blurry, and that makes everything a wee bit unbalanced-feeling—but all in all, I'm delighted at how easy it was. I'll call tomorrow to schedule the next one (Dr. Hung said I'm not exactly a walking time bomb, so a few weeks would be OK, but not too much longer than that), and I won't spend the whole morning in the bathroom next time waiting for my appointment. I can't believe I didn't even get woozy! What a tough chick I turned out to be.
Andy said he feels as though we brought the car in for an oil change and they discovered—and removed—a bomb under the seat.
Many thanks to all who sent messages of support and good wishes!
P.S. Oh, also, Dr. Hung admitted that his sink analogy doesn't quite hold up—the new laser hole doesn't exactly take over for a closed-off drainage channel; it equilibrates the pressure so the channel won't get closed off in the first place.
Hooray! I'm glad it went well. Believe me, my fingers were firmly crossed for you.
Posted by: Susan Barr | July 26, 2006 at 11:56 PM
Good for you, Karen. Diffused bomb indeed.
Posted by: scott | July 27, 2006 at 12:06 AM
Great news!
Posted by: Nancy | July 27, 2006 at 11:36 AM