I am not blind
Last Updated on Thursday, 3 September 2009 05:57 Written by The Virtual Runner Thursday, 3 September 2009 05:57
It’s the day after my laser eye surgery and I’m very happy with the results so far and it hasn’t even been 24 hours (not for 30 mins) since I had the treatment.
I know quite a few people that have had the treatment and I’ve read a lot about it online to make sure I was prepared for the day. I was comforted by the fact that most people said the treatment was easy and straightforward and how you were in-and-out in no time at all. Maybe I’m a bit wimpier than most people.
The actual treatment was simple and pain free, however the “intralase” (creating the flap) was quite traumatic and painful in parts. The doctor had to keep telling me to breathe normally because I was holding my breath (scared and the pain).
They put eye-drops in to numb the eye and then they insert a clamp to hold the eye open and prevent blinking. Then they insert a ring around they eye and the doctor says “you’ll feel a bit of pressure against the eye”. Translation: It will feel like I’m pushing your eye through the back of your head. Then they lower the intralase equipment on to your eye and again you feel like it’s crushing your eyeball. It only lasts about a minute per eye but I found it quite traumatic.
Once that is done the doctor opens the flaps and the treatment begins. The doctors tells you how long it will take for the treatment to take place (in seconds) and that you’ll hear a ticking noise and smell some burning (your eye burning). My treatment only took about 41 secs for one eye and 38 for the other and about 15 secs extra for each eye for the Wavefront.
After the treatment (less than 10 mins) I had some protective shields taped over my eyes and I was taken to a dark room to sit for 20 mins. The nurse comes in and goes through the after treatment care and I had my wife with me at that point to make sure she was taking it all in because my memory is useless and I had other things on my mind at that point!
You see the doctor quickly again at that point and they make you read the eye chart and you should be able to read the top line at that point (which I did).
Today at 10:30 I had my follow-up appointment with another eye doctor to check the flaps that were created on my cornea and to see how my sight was progressing. He said that my flaps were great and that there was no inflammation. He asked me to read the eye chart with each eye and I had 20/16 with my left eye and 20/30 with my right eye. 20/30 is driving standard.
He said not to worry about the right eye at the moment because it is still early days. He said to be patient because it takes about three months for the vision to settle completely.
As for how I can see now. I can see quite a long ways and it really is amazing. Yeah, it’s not perfect at the moment but it is only the first day and it was a surgical procedure. I’m still amazed that I can look outside and see for a long ways with clarity.
I’ve got some eye drops to take every four hours for 7 days (anti-biotics) and some for 10 days (steroids) and some others for three months (tears). I’ve got to wear some eye protection at night when I’m sleeping for 7 days to make sure I don’t rub my eyes in my sleep. I’m not supposed to run for two weeks either! Two weeks! They said that is the minimum so I’ll leave it at that. I’m going back for another appointment on 17th September so I’ll ask then if it is okay to run again.
My initial verdict (as I haven’t fully healed yet) is that it is definitely worth the money and I would recommend it to anyone with glasses.
Learn MoreQuarr Cottage & Coastal Visit
Last Updated on Wednesday, 2 September 2009 10:25 Written by The Virtual Runner Wednesday, 2 September 2009 10:25
Quarr Cottage
Some time ago we decided we were going to go away for the August Bank Holiday weekend and get away from Reading. I went to the Reading Festival last year, but frankly I don’t like the bands that play Reading much anymore and also I could do without a day of binge drinking. I’m aware that I could go and not drink, however the festival would be even more boring; so why go at all?
Besides, I don’t really drink anymore. The last time I drank was the Reading Festival 2008!
Because we wanted to get away we booked a cottage through Cottages 4 You. The cottage is called Quarr Cottage and is in North Chideock near Bridport, Dorset.
We had a great weekend (photos can be seen here) and my son loved the beach. The last time we took him to a beach was before he was walking and he didn’t like it. He wouldn’t sit on the sand becuase he didn’t like how it felt and he was scared to death of the waves. Poor little fella.
Quarr Cottage
Before this trip, my son kept talking about our holiday and the sea. He was very excited about going and it was cute. When he did finally get to the beach on the Friday he was really curious and interested in it. It wasn’t long before he was going right in the water and would’ve gone in up to his neck had we not told him to stop.
We went straight to Weymouth in Dorset first before heading to Quarr Cottage because we couldn’t check-in until 3pm. So we wandered around Weymouth for a bit before setting off to Chideock.
The cottage was okay as far as old cottages go. It was tidy but not necessarily “clean” because there were spider webs and mold in the bathroom on the wall. You could also tell that they allowed people with dogs to stay there because of the “odour” lingering. It seemed to us that the owners (who lived next door) did the bare minimum to just keep the place going for people renting it. We certainly wouldn’t pay the money to rent it again, however it was a lovely little village and a great location/base for our holiday. Don’t get me wrong, although the cottage had it’s failings, we still loved our weekend holiday and had a fantastic time.
Fossil Hunting - Charmouth
During the course of the weekend we went to Weymouth beach and sat around while my son played in the water and the sand. We had fish & chips (you gotta do that when near the coast) and had a great time. We went to Charmouth which is supposed to be the gateway to the Jurassic Coast. We paid £3 and hired a hammer and goggles to go along the beach and find fossils. The signs, leaflets and general advertising for the area made it seem like the beach between Charmouth and Lyme Regis was teeming with fossils; we never found one. After a couple of hours on the beach it was clear that it was very over-hyped and a little bit of a lie. The biggest giveaway was the fossil shop that sold (you guessed it) fossils. They never had any fossils for sale from that area at all in the whole shop. All of the fossils were from places like Madagascar (miles and miles from the UK) and from other parts of the UK. What a load of crap. I had to have something in the end so I bought a Ammonite fossile from Madagascar that is 165 million years old. The reason I bought the one from Madagascar is because (to me) it is more memorable and funny. I mean, we went to Charmouth to find our own fossils and bought one from Madagascar. Ridiculous. Our Ammonite is now on display in the sitting room and when people ask I’ll tell them about the disappointment called Charmouth and the Gateway to the Jurrasic Coast.
Dinosaur Museum - Dorchester
We also visited Portland and spend quite a bit of time in Lyme Regis. I really liked Lyme Regis. We wandered around the village and hung around on the beach. We also partook in a bit of gambling in one of the amusement arcades. Great fun and I highly recommend a visit to Lyme Regis for anyone heading down to the coast or coming this way (to the UK) for a visit.
The weather during the weekend was pretty good except for Sunday when it was very cloudy, foggy and a bit drizzly. Even so, we still had a great day and went to the Dinosaur museum in Dorchester as well as the Tutankhamun exhibit (disappointing). My son really liked the dinosaurs and I’m sure he thought they were going to come alive at any time.
Whilst we were in the dinosaur museum I was reading things and trying to learn (hard for me to do). I came upon a write-up about how the first dinosaur remains found were initially believed (because of an error – a big one) to be the scrotum of a giant man! The scrotum! Jeez, he must have wondered how it was so well preserved.
That’s it (or all I’m going to say) for our weekend. All in all it was a great time and very tiring for me and my wife. My son was great and did a lot of walking and daddy (me) did a lot of carrying of said son on his shoulders.
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