I have NOT been good at posting lately. But then again, my life has been pretty uninteresting lately, too. I've been studying Spanish (ahora, por supuesto, hablo mejor que antes) now for about 3 months. It's crazy to see how quickly a language can be picked up. Of course, that doesn't mean I understand everything, or even can always get my point across. But it is definitely a different experience then when I studied Russian. By this time in my Russian language study, I had already arrived in Russia.
In other news, I had Lasik surgery today. I'm going to attempt to give you a feel for the process that I experienced. Times are guesstimates.
8:00 am - Gizmo has already woken me up, even though I was planning to sleep until 9:00. I don't want to be too tired, so I don't get up.
9:00 am - I have slept fitfully for the past hour due to Gizmo's restlessness. I get ready, including eating a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and cheese over toast.
10:00 am - I head downstairs to wait for my ride. I had received many offers to give me a ride to the surgery, but I ended up getting a ride with friends who live in my apartment complex, to make things hopefully less inconvenient.
10:30 am - I let the front desk know that I am there, and I am asked to sit down and wait. I feel a little nervous, but I'm trying to forget about it. I start working on my Spanish homework to keep my mind off of things.
10:50 am - I have finished my Spanish homework, the only thing I had brought with me to do while I was waiting. Now I have nothing to distract me from my imminent surgery.
11:20 am - I am finally called to the front desk. I sign all the required papers, pay for the procedure, and buy some artificial tears for use after the surgery. Than I am asked to wait some more.
11:40 am - I am called to the back. I am given my post operative instructions and am left in another waiting room.
12:00 pm - I am still waiting, and the longer I wait, the more nervous I become.
12:20 pm - I have been told that there is one person ahead of me still waiting. I'm starting to get a little annoyed because it is obvious they over-extended themselves for the day. To distract myself, I start telling myself stories in Spanish (I need two stories for Monday, so this is an attempt to decide what to tell in class).
12:25 pm - My ride has arrived, but they still haven't done anything. I tell them I should be done in about 45 minutes.
12:30 pm - The person in front of me gets called in.
12:40 pm - I'm very hungry now and still waiting.
12:45 pm - After waiting for over 2 hours, I am finally called in. The lady puts a hairnet on me and puts drops in my eyes. Then she leaves me to wait for the surgeon.
12:55 pm - After 2 1/2 hours of waiting, I finally see the surgeon. He says all the scary stuff that he has to say to protect himself in the event of one of the rare exceptions happening. For example, that there is the chance I will have to come back for another procedure, or that my vision may actually be made worse.
1:00 pm - The surgeon has looked at my eyes, and I am laying back in the chair for my surgery. I start thinking to myself, "This is crazy! Why am I doing this? My eyesight isn't even that bad. I should just get up and leave! But I've already wasted 2 and 1/2 hours here, I might as well go through with it." So I say nothing.
1:01 pm - The surgery has begun. The next ten minutes are spent staring at a blinking red light, which is actually quite difficult to do when your lens has been sliced off.
1:10 pm - The surgery is over. The surgeon looks at my eyes again, helps me get my sunglasses on and leads me out. I feel so tired. My eyes don't necessarily hurt, they just feel heavy and I can barely keep my eyes open. I sit down to wait for my ride. My eyes also begin to water. So much for not being able to properly produce tears.
1:20 pm - My ride arrives and we head home. I keep my eyes closed for most of the ride because it is just too much effort to keep them open. I think to myself, it will be really easy to fall asleep. My eyes water the entire way home.
1:40 pm - I'm home. My place is dark, which is good. I switch my glasses for the protective shield I'm supposed to use while sleeping, and lay down on my bed. Although my eyes make me feel tired, I don't fall asleep.
1:50 pm - I decide to take the Tylenol PM I had been given to help me sleep. I fall asleep shortly after, but it is not a very restful sleep. I wake up several times.
3:45 pm - My phone rings. Who can be calling me? It is one of the nurses from Lasik Plus. They are calling to see if I was able to take a nap. Yet they woke me up from the nap . . . I go back to sleep.
4:15 pm - I wake up and can't make myself sleep any longer. I put in my prescription eye drops, then turn on the TV to relax.
8:00 pm - I have to close my eyes periodically to rest them, so I decide to go to bed. I use my drops again, and get ready for bed.
8:10 pm - I am ready for bed. Tomorrow morning I have my first check-up. I guess we'll see how I'm really doing then!
In other news, I had Lasik surgery today. I'm going to attempt to give you a feel for the process that I experienced. Times are guesstimates.
8:00 am - Gizmo has already woken me up, even though I was planning to sleep until 9:00. I don't want to be too tired, so I don't get up.
9:00 am - I have slept fitfully for the past hour due to Gizmo's restlessness. I get ready, including eating a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and cheese over toast.
10:00 am - I head downstairs to wait for my ride. I had received many offers to give me a ride to the surgery, but I ended up getting a ride with friends who live in my apartment complex, to make things hopefully less inconvenient.
10:30 am - I let the front desk know that I am there, and I am asked to sit down and wait. I feel a little nervous, but I'm trying to forget about it. I start working on my Spanish homework to keep my mind off of things.
10:50 am - I have finished my Spanish homework, the only thing I had brought with me to do while I was waiting. Now I have nothing to distract me from my imminent surgery.
11:20 am - I am finally called to the front desk. I sign all the required papers, pay for the procedure, and buy some artificial tears for use after the surgery. Than I am asked to wait some more.
11:40 am - I am called to the back. I am given my post operative instructions and am left in another waiting room.
12:00 pm - I am still waiting, and the longer I wait, the more nervous I become.
12:20 pm - I have been told that there is one person ahead of me still waiting. I'm starting to get a little annoyed because it is obvious they over-extended themselves for the day. To distract myself, I start telling myself stories in Spanish (I need two stories for Monday, so this is an attempt to decide what to tell in class).
12:25 pm - My ride has arrived, but they still haven't done anything. I tell them I should be done in about 45 minutes.
12:30 pm - The person in front of me gets called in.
12:40 pm - I'm very hungry now and still waiting.
12:45 pm - After waiting for over 2 hours, I am finally called in. The lady puts a hairnet on me and puts drops in my eyes. Then she leaves me to wait for the surgeon.
12:55 pm - After 2 1/2 hours of waiting, I finally see the surgeon. He says all the scary stuff that he has to say to protect himself in the event of one of the rare exceptions happening. For example, that there is the chance I will have to come back for another procedure, or that my vision may actually be made worse.
1:00 pm - The surgeon has looked at my eyes, and I am laying back in the chair for my surgery. I start thinking to myself, "This is crazy! Why am I doing this? My eyesight isn't even that bad. I should just get up and leave! But I've already wasted 2 and 1/2 hours here, I might as well go through with it." So I say nothing.
1:01 pm - The surgery has begun. The next ten minutes are spent staring at a blinking red light, which is actually quite difficult to do when your lens has been sliced off.
1:10 pm - The surgery is over. The surgeon looks at my eyes again, helps me get my sunglasses on and leads me out. I feel so tired. My eyes don't necessarily hurt, they just feel heavy and I can barely keep my eyes open. I sit down to wait for my ride. My eyes also begin to water. So much for not being able to properly produce tears.
1:20 pm - My ride arrives and we head home. I keep my eyes closed for most of the ride because it is just too much effort to keep them open. I think to myself, it will be really easy to fall asleep. My eyes water the entire way home.
1:40 pm - I'm home. My place is dark, which is good. I switch my glasses for the protective shield I'm supposed to use while sleeping, and lay down on my bed. Although my eyes make me feel tired, I don't fall asleep.
1:50 pm - I decide to take the Tylenol PM I had been given to help me sleep. I fall asleep shortly after, but it is not a very restful sleep. I wake up several times.
3:45 pm - My phone rings. Who can be calling me? It is one of the nurses from Lasik Plus. They are calling to see if I was able to take a nap. Yet they woke me up from the nap . . . I go back to sleep.
4:15 pm - I wake up and can't make myself sleep any longer. I put in my prescription eye drops, then turn on the TV to relax.
8:00 pm - I have to close my eyes periodically to rest them, so I decide to go to bed. I use my drops again, and get ready for bed.
8:10 pm - I am ready for bed. Tomorrow morning I have my first check-up. I guess we'll see how I'm really doing then!
