Read Part 1 of my Lasik Eye Surgery in Austin Review of the Eyes of Texas Laser Center here.

The rest of day of surgery I spent adding Artificial Tears to my eyes, occasionally adding the Anti-Biotic and Muro. Little by little my eyes stopped itching. It was tough to forget about the itching too because every thirty minutes I had to add more drops to my eyes. By 10pm I was ready to go to bed. Good thing too, my cellphone battery was dying.

I added the last drops to my eyes, climbed in bed and instinctively reached to take off my glasses. But no need. I then started to read. That was a wee bit bothersome. Thusfar, it looks like my reading vision is not as good as it was. But I could nevertheless read without assistance. Thirty minutes later I put the protective shields back over my eyes and fell asleep.

When I awoke, I didn't bother reaching for my glasses. I just looked up and saw that mysterious clock on the wall that you hear exists but never does with glasses. I read it perfectly. It was 8:37am. My eyes are no longer itching. Just a touch of dryness which means more drops every thirty minutes or so. In a few hours, I have the follow-up doctors appointment. Overall, I see significant improvement in my vision.

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I was a little worried with all the Artificial Tears I was using that I would run out. So I took the plunge, got into the car and drove to HEB wearing my sunshades outside as Dr. Wong suggested. I was a little bit nervous about driving. But overall, my vision was great. There was a little bit of a hazy halo around things. So I figured this wouldn't be much of a problem for driving. And it wasn't.

I got back to my parents and just relaxed and read some more, adding Tears every thirty minutes. I think my book reading vision was improved too though it still looked a bit hazy. But then, as I recall, it always was hazy reading. Now it's just a different sort of haziness.

I took a wee nap and woke up around noon. I bid my step-mom farewell and thanked her for ALL her help. Then I drove back to Eyes of Texas Laser Center. On the drive, I noticed my left I had slightly better vision than the right eye. It still seemed like I couldn't see some road signs as clearly I had hoped, but really there were no problems reading the signs or whatnot. It was a safe drive.

I stopped at Starbucks and grabbed a Latte and looked around. It was pretty cool, I could see all the store signs. I got back in my car and continued my journey.

I arrived early at the Laser Center. They took me back in and asked me how my eyes were doing. I told them about the somewhat hazy reading and strength of my left eye over my right eye. They did a re-imaging of my eyes. Then I waited to talk to Dr. Wong.

Ten minutes later, right before I found out who was the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby, they admitted me into the eye exam room. Dr. Wong arrived a few minutes after. Again, I mentioned the couple o'issues with reading and eyes and he said things will clear up in a week. Just keep taking those drops. Very friendly as usual.

As I thought about my eyes leaving the center, I realized my eyes adjustment sorta feels like when I first got new glasses after a prescription changed. Things are extra sparkly. And at times a little tough to see perfectly. But even now as I've been typing this latest entry, I realize that I can see my computer screen a little bit better. Though I need to add some more eye drops in a wee bit.

So how was my overall experience?

They asked me that before I left the eye center. Overall, I was a bit nervous. But it was fairly easy to do. The toughest thing was focusing on little dots, but as that didn't last more than a minute or so, that was no big deal. The scratchy eyes were annoying, but those too cleared up after a day. Now my eyes feel great. No swimming any time soon, but overall great.

Doctor L. Shawn Wong and associates were wonderful as well. Kind and friendly. They talked a little fast for me to really absorb all the information, but they provided information sheets which helped me immensely to remember all I needed to do to take care of my eyes.

I'll be going back in July for a follow-up. And if my eyes aren't focused up by then, Eyes of Texas Laser Center offers a discount touch-up service so I can fix up those eyes and improve my sight.

Overall, I'm happy. I've been wearing glasses for at least twenty-five years. And now... I CAN SEE!

Kinda makes you wonder what else we can accomplish?

Find out more about the Eyes of Texas Laser Center at www.texas2020.com.


Read Part 1 or Part 2 of this update now.

It was back in 1994 when I ran into my friend Laura outside the tower at the University of Texas at Austin. I remember her from high school. He had had thick glasses. Not nearly as thick as her sisters, but thick just the same. She had no glasses on when I met her. We got to talking and she told me she just had her eyes corrected. I don't remember if it was LASIK, but having only hear occasional reports back then, I thought, "Cool! Maybe some day I'll trust laser eye surgery enough to do it myself."

Over thirteen years later, I finally decided to take the plunge. Today, I had LASIK performed on my eyes. And my vision is still improving. I thought it might be nice for others if I shared my experience.

I arrived with my step-mom at 8:00 am this morning for our 8:30 appointment at Eyes of Texas Laser Center over on Spicewood Springs Road. My mom and I had an early start. I'm sure it helped that I was pretty much awake when my parents got up this morning. I couldn't sleep much last night. The bed was uncomfortable. I was cold. And of course, I was thinking a lot about the surgery. I should have done more yoga before I went to sleep like I usually do to sleep better, but I didn't.

So when my dad knocked on the door this morning, it didn't take me much to get out of bed. I got up and put the last three eye drops in each of my eyes. They started me on those two days ago. One was an anti-biotic called Zylet, the other Muro (whatever that is) called Sochlor, and the third, Artificial Tears (Refresh Tears by Allergan). Afterward, my step-mom made me breakfast and we drove to the eye clinic.

After paying the piper, the first thing they did was give me some Valium. Then they took me into the optometrist room. The nurse instructed me on how to take the rest of my eye drops. She put doctors masks on me, covering my mouth, hair and shoes. Then she left me alone to wait. I took a much needed nap. When I awoke a few minutes later, I had trouble standing. The Valium must've kicked in.

The nurse held my arm as she took me into the laser room. She gave me a cough drop which I didn't expect would help keep me, Sir Coughs-A-Lot, from coughing, but it did. I sat down on the bed. Then when when Doctor L. Shawn Wong was he asked me to lie down.

Dr. Wong told me not to move. And I did my best. The left eye went first. The doctor taped back the eye lids and lashes. Then he applied some tool to keep my eyes open. It kinda pinched and hurt a little with insertion. But once it was in place, everything was fine. Meanwhile, the nurse held my hand. I was thankful about that, because I was still a bit nervous.

Then the doctor told me to stare at a green light. As I did that, I think this was when he pulled back the protective covering over the eye. Kinda weird, but it didn't hurt. When he pulled back the covering, things got really blurry. Then most of what I could see was red blobs. That was a bit disconcerting, because they moved some. He told me to stare at the center of the red blob, and I did as best I could. Doctor Wong was very reassuring and kept telling me I was doing great. That definitely helped me to relax a bit.

After maybe a minute, he put the eye covering back, and I *think* he sorta smoothed out the eye covering. Again, it didn't hurt at all. The tough part was to keep staring at the green light.

Next, he taped my left eye shut and did the same with the right eye. This eye had a stigma. So at some point I heard this machine make a zapping sound and smelled ozone. The nurse told me about this before the operation. It was normal. And better yet, I didn't feel a thing.

After that, the doctor went back to the left eye. And I think he was smoothing out the eye covering again. Then he added two or three different drops to my eyes. Once we were done, my eyes felt scratchy, sorta like there was some sleep in my eyes, or maybe as if I had contacts that were a bit messed up. My eyes were still watering so I had trouble seeing, but when I could see, things looked clearer than they used to.

My step-mom helped me back into the waiting room. We took five minutes as the Valium still made it difficult to walk. Then my step-mom guided me out to the car with sunshades on. We got in and drove for the next thirty minutes. I turned on my cell phone alarm and applied eye drops every five minutes of the trip. And I was seeing much better, signs, things around the car, you name it.

We got home. I applied the last required eye drops before I napped. Then I tapped my eyes shut, added some protective coverings, put on my sleep mask, turned on some celtic music and slept for a couple hours.

When I awoke around 1:30, my eyes were REALLY itchy. I drank a huge glass of water and started on the Artificial Tears every five minutes for the next two hours. After about thirty minutes, I started feeling relief. Two hours later, I've taken off my sunshades that I was wearing inside. My eyes are little itchy still but and there's a bit of a haze and halos around things. My dad, who also had Lasik done before I did, said that's normal, even for the next week.

So now I'm sitting at the dining room typing now. There's a mirror on the wall, and I can actually see myself. My eyes still itch, and they are watering so it's not super easy to see. But it's more than I've seen in over twenty-five years. Already things are looking good!

Read Part 2 and Part 3 of this update now.