Chase and I combined have always been 8 eyes. We were the nerdy couple and were proud of it. Oftentimes at night we would put our heads together so the glasses would touch and make an electric zapping sound because we're awesome like that. Glasses were a pain in the rear but they were also very useful on days that you needed to see....like everyday. The problem was keeping track of them. Chase would hear me say "donde estan mis gafas" (where are my glasses) so often throughout the day that Spanish was so longer a foreign language. I could NEVER remember where I had placed them the night before or even the minute before. It was getting annoying for everyone involved.
The possibility of getting lasik eye surgery has always been on my mind. I was told to wait until after 30 to ensure that your eyesight has plateaued in a sense and won't worsen anymore over time. So, I've been waiting. I could have done contacts but the idea of sticking a foreign disk onto my eyeball was just too much to bear. I would endure the blindness until lasik could be done. Then we went to dinner with the Gordon's just after Brooke had her lasik surgery. She told me she cried because it was so amazing to be able to see. I was totally on board after that. Chase and I made an evaluation appointment and we were both told we had very "healthy eyes that just didn't see very well." We were both great candidates for lasik eye surgery. Hip hip hooray!! I was totally excited but Chase was so freaked out. The kid is WAY more blind than me but he's also brave enough to wear contacts so his eyes were pretty convenient for him (unless he had an infection and his poor little eyes were bright red and he had to wear glasses for a week). Contacts were a way of life for him. He didn't have to ask "donde estan mis gafas" all day long. He wasn't so sure he was ready for such a life changing moment.
After making the appointment I feel like I cheated on my best friend. These glasses had been my eyes for many years. They had helped me see things very far away. They made my tired eyes feel better when I put them on at night. They hid the bags under my eyes when I was sleep deprived. Little George would bring them to me all fingerprinted and smudged and say "gasses." He doesn't like it when I don't wear them. I felt a little like Chase. I was sad to end this part of my life.
But I did it anyway. Sorry glasses, and sorry George, but it's just FAR too glorious to wake up in the morning and be able to see!!!! The surgery was quick and painless. They gave me a valium (thank you very much) and took me into a room to zap my eyes. I won't go into details but there was one point that the doctor kept asking me questions about my life. It was kind of like when the dentist talks to you while your getting a root canal. Dude, I can't talk while my mouth is propped open like this!! Anywho, the kind Dr. asked me something about SLC and I finally just said after a long pause "um, I'm kind of freaking out right now. I really can't answer any of your questions." The lazer was probably folding a flap over my cornea at the moment. I just wasn't in the mood for chit chat.
Then, it was over. They put these shields over my eyes which made visibility a little fuzzy and was told to go home and take a nap (thank you very much). The shields were to protect me from poking myself in the eyes because I always poke myself in the eyes, on purpose. I had to protect that flap from moving and under no circumstances was I to rub my eyes for a month. I only had to wear the shields for 5 nights.
I think I kind of look like a superhero. The only problem is, when I got home I couldn't sleep. That valium was made for the birds because it certainly didn't work for me. I think I had fallen asleep for about 5 minutes and woke up to a terrible sting in both eyes. It was stinging SOOOO bad. I was too scared to open my eyes so I just started pounding on the headboard with my fist to get Chase's attention in the other room. He came in, dropped some magical numbing drops into my eyes, gave me some Nyquil and I checked out for a very LONG time. It was glorious!! I was more excited about my forced nap than the actual surgery. I never get to take a nap!!
Long story short, when I woke up, I could see!! It's pretty amazing. I see a little better everyday too. When I went back to my checkup, I had 20/15 vision. Halleluiah!!
We might not get to zap our glasses together anymore but some lucky guy named Chase got to wake up to this gorgeous creature every morning for a week. Mouth guard is an added and permanent feature with special thanks to Rose Dental.
My experience was such a great one (other than crying in the elevator because "I don't know why, I'm just freaking out" on the way to the car and the throbbing sting while trying to nap), Chase finally gave in and decided he was ready to see perfectly for the first time since he was 7. If only that bottle capped. magnifying glasses clad boy could see him now!!
The valium worked WAY better for him than it did for me. He was totally loopy on the drive home and kept talking about how happy he was we had an HSA account that could pay for these surgeries. Coming from our trusty employee benefits tax attorney. He was such a loopy sleepy head, I practically had to carry him into the house (not really, I'm not that strong, but you get the point) and he fell asleep immediately.
I knew Chase's reaction to Lasik would be more dramatic than mine because he truly was as blind as a bat. His pathetic (healthy) eyes were at a negative 8 prescription. That means if I wasn't nose to nose with him, he couldn't identify me. So, when Chase woke up and walked into the family room where we were watching a movie together, he totally got choked up and started to cry. I'll never forget those tear streaked blue eyes as he looked at me and said "I can see!" Of course I started to cry too because I was just so happy for this blind man who had been healed. I told him he needed to first of all thank his Heavenly Father for the blessing of having the means for this surgery and that he needed to send a thank you letter to Dr. Mann. I didn't want him to be one of the 5 blind men healed by Jesus that never praised and thanked Jesus after he performed such a miracle.
It truly was a miracle and a spiritual moment. I still get emotional thinking of my sweet Chase being able to see after so many years of blindness. He was the sweet little boy at the beach who when a big wave hit and took his glasses with it, had to go the rest of his family vacation seeing the world as one big blur. Poor little Chase.
A week later, we watched conference with perfect vision. It was epic!! George got over the fact that I wasn't wearing "gasses" anymore too. Happy days y'all!
