Friday, August 3, 2007

I Can See Clearly Now!

I woke up this morning and took my time looking around my bedroom. I looked hard at all the things my vision challenged eyes could not see. I wanted to remember what it is like to not see clearly. As I reached over to my nightstand and grasped all around for my glasses I rejoiced knowing this would be the last morning I would need to rely on glasses to make it to the bathroom safely. As I fixed my hair, I glanced at my contact case on the sink and smiled as I realized I would never again open those two little vials to put the little lenses in my eyes that would help me make it through my day. Because today I went to a clinic and underwent Lasik eye surgery. It was a very strange experience. I was given two little valium tablets to take the edge off the nervousness I felt. Because even though I was very excited to have this procedure done, letting people invade my eyes made me more than a little apprehensive. As poor as my eyes were, they were my eyes afterall, and the thought of something possibly going wrong and losing my eyesight worried me more than a little.

I met my surgeon and I immediately liked him. I soon discovered that he was a Christian, a PK (pastors kid) in fact, and was even from my own denomination. That immediately put me at ease. He led me into a room and I laid in a recliner type chair. I was given a stuffed animal to hold and the assistant told me that this would help me not to try to help the doctor! It was actually nice because I wrung the stuffing out of that thing! Immediately his assistant painted some adhesive around my eyes and placed some tape that held my lashes both above and below my eye. Numbing drops were administered into my eyes and then an instrument that held my eye open and prevented me from blinking or moving my eye. There was pressure but not pain at all. My surgeon talked me through the whole procedure telling me what was going to happen next. A patch was placed over the other eye. A camera type instrument was placed over my eye with a red dot I was told to focus on. There were some clicks and then as the surgeon lifted the lens off my cornea, everything went black. That was the worst part. I heard some more clicking sounds and there was a strange odor and suddenly I could see again. Drops were administered and I had to focus on the red dot for another minute and I was done! Then the second eye was done in the same way. The whole procedure was probably 6 or 7 minutes. Incredible. I told the doctor that I had not expected the odor. He told me it was the smell of bad eyesight leaving! As I sat up I could tell that I could see better but everything was still very blurry. The doctor told me that was completely normal and that I would keep getting clearer vision for the next week. It is now about 6 hours later and I am simply amazed at how well I can see! All the way home, as my husband drove, I was busy reading license plates off of all the cars around me! I just can't belive how well I can see and it's hard to understand that I don't have contacts in!
I believe in the instantaneous healing of God's hand. I also believe God heals through the hands of surgeons. Today I experienced healing by God through the hands of a very skilled surgeon.
After the surgery, I was looking around the room and I told the surgeon that it was a miracle. He smiled and said, "I remember reading of Someone who healed eyesight with a little bit of mud. That was a miracle."
God is so good!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness I am so excited for you. I have had so many people tell me how wonderful this is. I can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks when it is all 100% perfect. It is going to be so exciting.

And I love that God gave you a Christian doc. How sweet is that???!!!

Mom said...

How exciting! I am glad that it went so well for you. I have read two stories now of ladies who have undergone this surgery and had excellent results. I would love to ditch my glasses. I am scared though -- and broke, maybe later.

Katie said...

Isn't it wonderful? I wasn't prepared for the smell either. They talked me through the whole thing except they didn't make any mention of "ok now you're going to smell burning eyeball, nothing to worry about though, it's just your cornea!"
Glad it all went well for you!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! You'll be looking at the world in a whole new light. :)

gail@more than a song said...

That's so exciting! I hope you're doing well with all of it.
I would be scared to try that, that's so good that you were able to get through it. A couple of my kids want this done too.

pei girl said...

I am so happy for you Robin,I love the way you write your post.have an awesome day (hugs from the Island):0)

Robin said...

I so want to have this done, but the "things going black" scares the weebies out of me. I've half blind so I can't imagine what it would be like to be able to just "see" when I get up.

Robin said...

That was supposed to be "I'm half blind..."

Aunt Angie said...

I am so glad you shared all of the nitty gritty of the surgery. I want to have it so so bad, but have been so scared! I have worn glasses and/or contacts for so many years! It would be awesome to not be dependent on that anymore!
So, now that you have given me a bit more "insight" into the surgery---I will just have to start my little budget for it!!