What a Difference a Day Makes!

What a feeling to open my eyes and see things across the room!  This is amazing!  It makes the ordeal yesterday totall worth it!  Now if you think I'm overreacting all I have to say is I have gone from 20/2000 (yes that is 2 thousand!) to 20/25 vision in one day!  The doctor said I will continue to improve over the next weeks and months.  Basically I have 80% of my vision by the second day, 90% within the first few weeks and 100% over the next few months.

The Lord has definitely blessed me and I am so thankful.  The smallest things are so exciting.  I mean who wants to have to hold the shampoo bottle an inch from their face while in the shower to make sure you can read what you're using?! 

I still have a small bit of glare in my eyes but am so impressed with how quickly this has progressed!

A HUGE thank you to Dr Grin and his staff for being so encouraging and supportive!  They took me through each step of the way and made sure I was comfortable and informed.

Post-op LASIK

Yay! I got through the procedure! It was quite an experience overall. We got to the surgery location and checked in. We got called back where I signed paperwork, and they went over how I was to use the different eye drops after operation and other information.

I then was given a Vallium to help calm my nerves and keep me from wanting to pass out. My eyes were scanned to have a map of my eyes for the machine to use to customize the correction of my vision. We did a quick eye exam as well. We were given head covers and booties to wear before moving into the procedure room.

The first room I went into was the machine to create the corneal flap. I felt a bit of pressure and had quite a strange sensation on my eye. This was by far the most uncomfortable part of the procedure. Dr. Grin was so comforting, and talked me through each stage of the surgery. This was very helpful, especially when after the flap is created, there is a period of time I couldn't see at all. This would've been very scary had I not had warning.

We then moved into another room to do the laser treatment. I felt absolutely nothing throughout this portion of the surgery. I could see that he was moving the flap but couldn't feel anything. The laser then went to work correcting my eye, and Dr. Grin then replaced the flap and gave me several eye drops. We did the other eye and were done. I was at the facility for a total of 1.5-2 hours. The procedure itself took only about 20 minutes. Literally the time that machines were at work on my eyes was about 2-3 minutes per eye.

I am in awe that we have technology that take my sight from worse than 20/200 to where I can see without aide of corrective lenses. I am so blessed! I will be having a follow-up appointment in the morning and look forward to waking up and being able to see without putting on glasses!

My husband was so supportive, and I don't know that I would have done as well without him there holding my hand.

What an experience!

Before and after pics attached

Pre-op Jitters - LASIK

     In November of last year we had open enrollment for corporate benefits.  As a part of this I decided to put aside funds in a Flex Spending Account to get LASIK done.  I went through the LASIK evaluation in early February and confirmed that I am a candidate for the procedure.
     Fast forward to this whole week, and each day I have been getting more anxious about the surgery tomorrow.  Now sitting here the night before I have second guessed my decision to do this, and am very nervous. 
     I have been wearing some sort of eye correction (contacts or glasses) since 2nd grade.  The thought that after just over 20 years in corrective lenses I have the opportunity before me to have my vision improved is hard to digest.  I have continually reminded myself of all the benefits, but it is still hard to face this without getting nervous.
     Part of my difficulty is the fact that I have a long history of passing out.  From the age of about 5 years old I have passed out for a variety of reasons.  This has happened over 20 times in my lifetime.  These include at the doctor's office, dentist, optometrist (at least twice), after blood draws on several occassions, and various other situations.  I just want to be able to get through this without passing out!
     So I'm nervously anticipating the surgery in the morning and thankful for the anti-anxiety prescription to help ease those nerves.  We'll see how this goes!
    

Sensory Stepping Stones

This weekend I got to spend some time with our nephews, so I decided to give a project I found on Pinterest a shot.

I made sensory stepping stones, found on this blog - http://wendyjanelle.blogspot.com/2010/05/sensory-steps.html?m=1

I cut out rectangle pieces of cardboard, put cheap ($.94 for a 5ft roll at Wal-Mart) shelf paper on one side and a fun texture on the other. The shelf paper on the bottom keeps it from sliding when it gets stepped on. Some of the materials I used for the tops were bubble wrap, felt, bath poof, make-up sponges, craft pom poms, plastic bag, and foam packing paper.

I hot glued the material to the top and the shelf liner to the bottom. We set them on the floor, took our shoes and socks off and had a ball! The 1 & 1/2 year old loved it! He particularly enjoyed the pom pom and make-up sponge options.

It is definitely a great way to talk about textures and descriptive words with the little ones!

Workouts

I've deviated a bit from the Cuts & Curves program with the help of one of the personal trainers at 24 Hour Fitness. I wanted something that would kick my booty, and get me ready to tackle Warrior Dash in May! So far, so good. I still have to modify for my knee a bit, but it seems to be working so far.

I like that it has picked up the pace of the workout and it doesn't take as much time away from my evening. We also added cardio intervals between strength training sets on a couple of the workouts. Definitely a booty kick!

I also wanted to share my new running shoes! I love them! They are made by Under Armour.