New eyes

I first got glasses in primary school, around the age of 9 or 10. From that point on I was dependent on glasses or contact lenses to do almost everything.   While they definitely didn't hold me back from doing anything, after nearly 30 years I was tired of being so dependent that the first thing I did every morning was fumble around for my glasses. So three days ago I took the plunge and got laser eye surgery and already I'm healed enough to write this. Following the picture I'll write about the whole process so if you're squeamish and don't want to hear about it feel free to check out now. But for anyone interested or considering doing it yourselves hopefully this will give you more of an idea what happens once you go into the surgery. ​

All the stuff that goes before is like a pretty standard eye check up, I then head into the operating room and lie in the chair. It feels not unlike going to the dentists, lying back looking up at a bright light. Drops are put into my eyes and after a few minutes the light dim and the process begins.  The surgeon manipulates my head into the right position and what feels like a small plastic tube is inserted into my eye socket. It's not a pleasant or gentle experience but I guess you don't want things out of position or moving around when you're firing a laser at someones eye. I'm then told to look up at the red light and a 12 second countdown commences. I don't feel anything and after the 12 seconds is up we move onto the next stage. I'm moved across the room and put under another machine, more drops are placed into my eye and it looks like the surgeon is waving a q-tip back and forth across my eye.  I then look up and into another red light and this time a 39 second countdown begins. I hear a series of crackling pops which I assume is the laser firing and get a definite burning smell.  After the 39 seconds is over the laser stops and the process is repeated on the other eye. The whole thing takes less than 10 minutes and while not very painful is quite intense and my heart rate is definitely raised a few notches.
Almost immediately I'm able to see with just a light haze filtering everything I look at. We move into another room and go through post op care which basically includes a series of eye drops and the insistence nothing goes in or near the eyes for at least a week. After that I'm allowed to go home with just a pair of sunglasses for protection. Initially it feels more uncomfortable than painful, the eyes are sore and I just want to keep them closed. On the cab ride home it starts to build and by the time I get home I can barely open my eyes and they seem to sting constantly. It feels similar to when you get chili in your eyes and they won't stop watering but this goes on for about 4 or 5 hours before it begins to subside. Once the stinging and watering has lessened I can open my eyes a bit more and start to move around although the sensitivity to light does mean I have to put my sunglasses back on to go make a cup of tea.   I fall asleep and have a relatively pain free night and when I wake up in the morning my eyes barely hurt at all. The haze that clouded my vision the day before is gone although there is a slight halo when looking at lights or electronic displays and I get a shock when I look in the mirror and I see my right eye is almost completely red from a broken blood vessel. Looking at my phone I realise that my short vision is pretty bad and I can barely read anything without holding the phone an arms length away. But I'm well enough to get an uber into the city for my initial check up, I barely feel anything apart from some sensitivity when the light shines through the window. The check up goes well and they tell me my short vision should come back in about a week or so and that my bloody eye should return to normal soon.  
So here we are today, eyes feeling good, still got a bit of the halo effect and still can't read my phone easily but it's probably a good thing that I'm forced to take a break. It feels weird to be able to just wake up and see but I guess that'll take a while to go away completely. I'm looking forward to exploring the potential of what my new eyes can offer  once they are fully healed but for now I'm just enjoying the simple pleasures of not having to fumble for my glasses every morning.