On this occasion, I placed in my left lens. Then my right. I had immediate pain in my right eye and just assumed that the soft lens was inside out and I went to grab it so as to reverse it. It happens a lot since I now wear daily disposable lenses and they are super thin.
Only, when I went to grab it....nothing. My eye is now in pain and I feel the lens but it is nowhere to be seen. My wife looks and looks and looks with a flashlight.....she can't locate anything. Now I have a large hematoma on my upper eye-lid. I can still feel the lens in my eye. I half-joke to my wife that the lens has "gone behind my eye-ball". She is not laughing.
So, I rush over to my eye doctor. After some initial frantic moments he is able to extract half of the lens from way back-back-back-back in my upper eye socket. The other half? Not there and can't be found. But my eye immediately felt better so we think we got everything.
Because of that, I started to think about having Lasik performed. When I lost another lens in my eye later in the summer, this time locating it, the deal was sealed. I would have Lasik.
I decided to wait on Lasik until the fall after the tri-season was done. I did not want to wear glasses for two-weeks leading up to the surgery, let alone in an event. And the literature on Lasik stressed no swimming post surgery for a period of two to three weeks.
Of course, in the old days one would have just dealt with glasses. Last year Runners World had a great story on the '68 Boston Marathon winner, Amby Burfoot. Specs and all.
I finally scheduled my Lasik for October 22. It went very well, aside from the smell of bacon whilst my eyes were being burned like a crispy duck take-out.
48-hrs post Lasik, my left eye measured at an unbelievable 20-10. My right had been diagnosed with central serous retinopathy (CSR) years ago. The Lasik doc said 20-25 would be the best he could get it...and that's what it ended up being. Really, I had had no dryness issues, discomfort, or pain of any kind once I got past the first 4 hours post-op. I had a little inflammation that they monitored and I was on steroid drops for a few weeks.
In my one month post-op, my left eye had settled in at 20-20. My right eye, meanwhile, had regressed a bit to 20-50. We decided to wait two more months to see where the right eye might settle. As my surgeon stated, "sometimes we have to go back in to do a touch-up. Compare it to making a six inch putt."
Two months later was this past week. My left eye stayed at 20-20. My right eye, meanwhile, had regressed further to 20-70. So, it would appear that a second try with the right eye may become necessary. Just to be safe, we're going to wait another three months, until the end of April to see if the right eye has finally stabilized. It would be stupid to make a tweak only to have the eye regress again.
I half expect that I will end up waiting until after this coming tri-season to do a touch-up. I can't afford to lose any more time in the water!
Note - Return Sunday to see some race day Mobile Blog posts right from the Freeze Your Buns 5K in Hamel, Minnesota!
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