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At 5/6/14 07:54 PM, Otto wrote: So what brought you to do the surgery? How bad were your eyes? Long sighted or short? I am very interested because it sounds intense, but I might think of getting it myself one day. I'm far-sighted, very shit left eye, fine with glasses but they are very thick. I'm doing a degree in animation and am scared they're going to get too bad for anything worthwhile in life - would I be worth doing it? It sounds scary

My left eye was also pretty shitty (-5.75) and that may be the reason I had some issues with that one during the surgery.

What initially prompted me to think about it was I was allergic to my glasses, and hypoallergenic frames are $400+ for the frames alone. Then I started to get issues with wearing contacts. I'm still healing and will be able to use computers longer as time goes by. But any irritation my eyes get now is nowhere near what I had in contacts at times. My optometrist had been telling me I was perfect for LASIK, so after doing a ton of reading on it, I decided to go for it.

I was nearsighted, which LASIK is more suitable for since it means the eye is too short, and that's pretty easy for the laser to fix. Farsightedness is fixable, but that means the eyeball is a little too long. So, the surgery for that is a little more intensive since they do different work, even though it takes about the same amount of time and money. Although everyone does heal differently, the healing time may be a little lengthier.

If you can't get LASIK, there are other eye fixing surgeries like PRK. That one doesn't have a flap, so although you're down for the count a little longer, there's far less risk. There are also a ton of others besides LASIK and PRK that escape me right now. You'd need to talk to an optometrist to figure out if you want to go for it, or even if you may be a suitable candidate. I happened to have the right pupil size and corneal thickness for LASIK, but not everyone does. It's a huge decision to make, so think on it carefully. I would say that if your vision gets worse to the point where it starts interfering with your everyday activities, as mine did, you may want to consider it. But if you're fine where you are now, unless you decide "hey, glasses may not be a good professional option for me," then I don't see the big deal with keeping them. It's up to you.

At 5/5/14 09:50 PM, Tankdown wrote: I'm so sorry, that was too funny. I laughed.

Still best of wishes.

Well, my husband laughed too. He wondered how on earth I could get myself with a bottle dropper. I managed. Eye seems OK though. Redness is finally starting to break just a little bit, but it'll be at least another week, according to the doctor.

OMG, I'm an idiot. I managed to get myself in the left eye with the Restasis bottle dropper. Yeah. Of course it hurts. I've done that before LASIK and it hurt then too. I panicked and called the doctor, and she just said to use some of the special drops I happen to have lying around. If it still bugs me tomorrow, she'll see me, but I should be fine. And here I was scared I undid thousands of dollars of surgery.

Of course, I HAD to get myself in the bad eye. Well, we'll see what happens. I am on day 4, which means I am a lot less sensitive now than I was a couple days ago, but...yeah. This is why I have eye shields and can't exercise again until Saturday.

Went to the doctor today. Vision is 20/15 in my right eye. My left eye isn't doing as well as it should due to dryness. The doctor believes the dryness is what's causing the redness/blood to not go away. I've finished the codeine and I'm off it now since it dries out my eyes. But if I still have pain next week, I'll go back on it. I finish my prescription drops Wednesday, then it's just a matter of Restasis and wetting drops. So that should give it plenty of time to let the eyes heal. The doctor said she wanted to see me back next Wednesday. Once the eye gets moisturized and healed, my vision should correct itself.

At 5/5/14 12:19 AM, Sensationalism wrote: You're a girl, right?

Yes, I am a woman. I just have a pixie cut. I had it long when I was younger and it was a pain in the ass. Then I had it shoulder length for a bit until I got a pixie cut when I was 14. I loved it and never went back to long hair. However, it does not look good on everyone and you have to have a good complexion and facial structure, or you'll look stupid.

Here's NG on my bewbs for reference.

At 5/4/14 08:38 PM, Back-From-Purgatory wrote: I've heard getting your eyes lasered hurts your night vision a fair bit. Any experience with that?

The only issue I am having right now is I am getting glare/halos from outdoor lights at night. Not cleared for night driving until Wednesday. Those will go away in less than a week now, but I work from home, so fortunately, I don't have to worry about driving anywhere.

At nighttime, if I'm in a building with normal light, though, my vision is completely unaffected.

Left eye has been hurting today. Guess this is what they meant by "worse before it gets better"? Additional drops are helping though. That being said, the codeine is kicking my ass. At least I'm done with it tomorrow.

My husband drove me to the grocery store for the weekly shopping. The place seemed too bright for me and I wore the wraparound sunglasses they gave me the whole time. I felt like an idiot.

At 5/4/14 11:54 AM, DM692 wrote: That's awesome that everything worked out well for you! It seems it's all going well, but good luck in your recovery either way. How much did the procedure cost?

$4700 for both eyes. I did get a partial discount from insurance, but they don't cover the procedure because of 1) liability and 2) it's considered elective surgery. I have a deal with my optometrist where I will pay the amount off over two years. Honestly, it's probably best insurance companies don't get involved, otherwise, it might cost $10K per eye.

At 5/4/14 12:28 AM, 24901miles wrote: JoS (JusticeOfSarcasm, old mod) and Camilla have both had it done.

I used to chat with JoS. Any idea what happened to him?

At 5/3/14 08:45 PM, exudaz wrote: Knowing that there's a chance they could fuck up and mess up your eyes, I'm not getting laser eye surgery.

I'm fully aware of that, and did a shit load of research before deciding to go for the LASIK. I think I made the right choice though.

Plus, I think glasses look cool.

What actually got me thinking of getting it done was I'm allergic to the glasses I was wearing. Hypoallergenic frames are upwards of $400+ per pair, and that's just the frames. With that, and the problems I was beginning to have with irritation from my contacts, I began thinking of it as a financial decision. The more I read about it, the more I was able to get over my initial fears. The lack of a microkeratome was the final barrier. I had already decided I was getting LASIK done, but that part had been making me real nervous.

Taken this afternoon. Unfortunately, it's going to look worse before it looks better. My husband insists all I need is to grow my hair long and start wearing a white dress. Vision in my right eye is perfect. Left eye occasionally blurs, but I'm told this will happen for a week before everything snaps into place. Regardless, I can see WAY better than I used to.

Taken Friday evening. Color is getting deeper, which indicates drainage. Right eye is almost completely healed now.

These are the eye shields taped to my face. Yes, I am fully aware of how stupid I look. I can open and close my eyes with them on, so I can walk to the bathroom or put them on and off myself as needed.

This is how I looked Thursday. This is what I mean by the hemmorrage in my left eye.

These are the eye shields I have to tape to my face at night so I don't bump the corneal flaps out of place. I'm stuck wearing these until Wednesday.

WARNING:Next two images are kinda graphic.

So, I can finally get back on computers after having LASIK done on Wednesday. I couldn't read, use computers, or watch TV for 72 hours post-surgery. So, I either spent a lot of time listening to the TV (which is kinda hard) or listening to music while lying in bed. I still have some light sensitivity and am gradually getting used to screens again. I'll try answering everyone's questions, but don't be surprised if I hit the 4-post limit pretty quickly. Also, some of my post-surgery pics are a little graphic, so keep that in mind. I'm not going to be describing the process itself since tons of websites do that already.

Wednesday my parents drove me to the LASIK center. I got there and finished signing some consent forms, as well as a form that allowed my mom to watch the procedure. Dad usually likes gross stuff like that, but he refused to watch for whatever reason. Then I signed some release forms for Valium and Tylenol PM. The Valium dosage was anywhere from 5 mg ("not nervous at all") to 15 mg ("you're running out the door"). I erred on the side of caution and opted for 10 mg. I had to wait a bit for some folks who were ahead of me before going back to an exam room. The surgeon came in and looked at my charts, then at my eyes to make sure everything would be OK for the procedure. It was, so he gave me my Valium, and then Mom and I headed to a secondary waiting room to allow the Valium to kick in. Once it did, it felt like I had taken an absolute crapload of Benadryl. They gave me some plastic booties to put over my shoes and a hairnet.

Then came my turn. Mom couldn't come into the room with me, but she could watch through a window. There was also a little TV screen where you could see the actual surgery itself going on. No, they couldn't actually record it (HIPPA violation) and honestly, I'd be way too squeamish to watch it if they did. The surgery room was FREEZING and I was beginning to regret wearing a short-sleeved shirt. They helped me onto the surface where I needed to lie down. There was a bright white ring of light and a little blinking orange light in the middle. My job was just to stare at the orange light. Once I was lying down, they put two rounds of anesthetic drops in my eyes.

Prior to the surgery, I did get a major worry taken off my mind. Instead of a microkeratome, they were going to be using an IntraLase laser to make the corneal flap. It sounds kind of silly considering what LASIK is, but the idea of a small blade going near my eyes freaked me out. The tradeoff to this, however, is they have to keep pressure on your eyes much longer so they can make the flap. This is kind of a gross mental image, but it's easier to cut a ripe tomato than a squishy one, which is why they use the pressure.

The pressure was the worst part of the surgery. The surgeon had given me a pair of squeeze balls to put in my hands, and I was squeezing them like crazy during the pressure. They pushed down on my eye to begin the pressure, then used a speculum to keep my lids open so I didn't blink during the procedure. That hurt, too. But that white ring was really bright, so it's a damn good thing they used the speculum, or I wouldn't have been able to keep my eyes open. Once the pressure and speculum were in, my vision greyed out. Once my vision returned, my job was to find that little orange light and stare at it. That was a little tough since the light kept moving and fading in and out. They told me long, deep breaths. I needed the squeeze balls less and less. Each eye only took about 1 minute 30 seconds, I'd say, but when there's a ton of pressure on your eye and you're trying to find that little light, it's the longest minute and 30 seconds ever. What really helped was the surgeon telling me what was happening, what he would do, and counting down how long things would take. It was a little weird watching him replace the corneal flap. I didn't feel anything, but my vision came back, and he used this thing that looked like a miniature dustpan to put it back.

Once the right eye was finished, they put a patch over it. I asked if I was allowed to close my eye, since I really felt the need to. They said yes, and keep it closed the whole time, since that would be best.

The left eye hurt more than the right eye. The pressure felt greater, for one. I think my body realized something was going on and was reacting. At this point, I was mentally trying to figure out when everything would be over. I used the squeeze balls and deep breathing here more. Then, once everything was over, the nurse helped me sit up. My vision was like if I were wearing foggy contacts or dirty glasses, but HOLY CRAP I COULD SEE!!! I saw my mom through the window. They helped me off the machine and out the door to a small recovery area where they helped me into a chair and put up the recliner part. They had me lie back and put a pair of wrap-around sunglasses on my face. They had me chill out there with my eyes closed for a bit. My dad came back to see me. Mom told me she could see my surgery on the little screen and right at the end, in each eye, I did bleed. It turns out that anyone who has ever worn contact lenses will bleed. After a while, they checked my eyes again, then sent me home in the dark shades. One thing I noticed was that I was really hungry. I grabbed the Chips Ahoy cookies out of the basket and ate those in the car. I also took the Tylenol PM then. Mom called my husband (who was at work) to tell him everything went OK. I kept my eyes closed the whole time, and I was glad I was getting home. The anesthetic drops wore off and everything HURT LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER. They helped me into the house and the bedroom, and then they taped the eye shields on my face and helped me change into my jammies. My job was to sleep for awhile so everything could begin healing. Unfortunately, the Tylenol PM wasn't doing anything. So they brought me some Coke and I took 5 mg of Ambien. I finally got comfortable and slept. I didn't get up again until about 8:30 PM to go pee. My eyes no longer hurt as much, but I felt sluggish and went back to bed. I woke up on my own again at around 10:30, and it was time to begin the drops.

My drops:

Ofloxacin (antibiotic to prevent infections)

Prednisolone (steriod, anti-inflammatory. Also responsible for the disgusting metallic taste in my mouth since I've begun taking them.)

Wetting drops (use however often I want)

There's also Restasis, but I wasn't allowed to resume that until yesterday.

It took about 15 minutes to put in all the drops and allow them to absorb. Then I was hungry again, so I made toast and ate that before going back to bed. I heard my husband come home and Mom talk to him, and him come into the room, but I don't remember much else. Remember, there was 10 mg of Valium, 5 mg of Ambien, and two Tylenol PM. So, unsurprisingly, I didn't wake up again until 8:30 AM the next day. But every time I was up and looking around, the awesome thing is I could see.

That following afternoon, I had to go back to my eye doctor. I have a large hemorrhage in my left eye, though, which was caused by an abrasion. Turns out this is normal. Also, it may have had something to do with me feeling more pain in my left eye. She said there's a pocket of blood in there that's like a knuckle, which is why it hurts. It will eventually drain, but it will look worse before it looks better. She gave me a choice of Vicodin or Tylenol with codeine. I took the Tylenol since I don't want to get anywhere near Vicodin. I have been legally cleared to drive, but I don't think getting behind the wheel with codeine and prednisolone in my system is a good idea. So, my husband's taking me to do the weekly shopping tomorrow.

I go back to the doctor Monday for a vision check. I am also cleared to return to work then. I cannot exercise again until the 12th, and no kayaking until the 17th. I can shower again, but I have to be careful not to get water in my eyes. Besides, if I do, it REALLY, REALLY FUCKING HURTS.

"GO AWAY! SAVING THE PLANET!"

At 4/27/14 12:45 AM, DoctorStrongbad wrote: I get weird phone calls from other states at least once a week. Don't answer it, it is normally a scam.

I figured it was a telemarketer, but a Canadian number? My hometown is three hours from the border, but it still doesn't count as Canada.

I looked up the number and a lot of folks in Kitchener are complaining about calls from that number. Guess there's no do not call list in Canada?

How did the Ottawa Citizen get my American cell phone number?

At 4/20/14 01:34 PM, Slint wrote: Does he have a NG account?

No, and I keep telling him to get one. He plays enough tower defense games.

Did yard work this morning. Ate a ham for lunch. Later, we're going to a picnic with my husband's aikido group.

Got offers from family, but I didn't want to travel for Easter because I have a LASIK consultation tomorrow. I'm getting the procedure on the 30th. No Easter basket for me until Mom comes down tomorrow to give it to me. She's driving me to my consultation and back because they use the eyedrops that make your vision blurry. For obvious reasons, no driving for me.

At 4/19/14 01:30 AM, DoctorStrongbad wrote: I have never been to Ohio. The only thing I know about it is Drew Carrey is a native son.

Cleveland's problems are well-documented, but they do have a very vibrant arts community.

I lived very close to Columbus for a year. I always liked Columbus. Lots of arts, entertainment, food, and culture. Jobs-wise, it's also a good place to be. I'm considering taking my husband to Columbus for a mini-vacation this year. One, I always wanted to take him to the Columbus Zoo. Two, we want to go up and down the Short North again. Will need to go back to Jeni's Ice Cream and the awesomely-named record store Magnolia Thunderpussy. They have damn near everything.

At 4/17/14 09:54 PM, Camarohusky wrote: I hate the humidity. I hate the swamps. I hate the lack of hills or mountains. I hate the haze (which, I guess, i double hate on the humidity.) I hate the mucky feeling of the place. I also hate that whenever I leave the OK parts, I begin to hear dueling banjos.

That's Ohio for you. Once you leave Toledo or the C cities, you have left all civilization and walked straight onto the set of "Hee Haw." When I lived there, I used to tell people I lived in Deliverance.

RUN. RUN THE FUCK AWAY. Think about it. You're both 20 and unmarried. At 20, what kind of job do you have? Even if you're working full-time, you're pretty low on the totem pole on that point and promotions won't be for another couple of years. So nowhere near enough to support kids, especially when you consider clothes/insurance/immunization/diapers/food/other stuff I know I am forgetting.

If she's that baby-obsessed, and you tell her you don't want kids (and I'm assuming you have), she will a) poke holes in the condoms or b) go out fucking around to find a sperm donor, and c) possibly try to pass it off as yours if she does get pregnant. I have seen women do some crazy fucking things over children. While she may not get as extreme as kidnapping a baby and claiming it's hers, that's the kind of thinking that goes into that. They think baby=happiness, and don't think of anything else, like how that would affect their lives, jobs, and other relationships.

The whole hitting you thing aside (which is fucked up on its own), if you get nervous every month until she has her period, there is something seriously wrong with that relationship. It does not sound healthy in any way. You may or may not want kids later in life, but you sure as hell aren't ready for them now and realize that. If she's that immature she can't get over her tunnel vision, you need to break up with her.

The wiretapping charge is being dropped. The DA's office is quite pissed no one ever contacted them regarding wiretapping law. They've been trying to get ahold of the officer who wrote the citation, but he has magically disappeared.

My mom was a teacher for 32 years and I've been in the school system myself (obviously). So I can confidently say that a lot of administrators just have their own little fiefdoms, and God forbid you disturb the order.

At 4/13/14 02:45 PM, Idiot-Finder wrote: To think people said that the 1990s were peaceful times.

Yeah, what I discovered during my thesis research was that Clinton's foreign policy fuckups also paved the way for bin Laden and al-Qaeda in the following decade. Maybe if he'd actually had the balls to act on intel when they found the hideout in '96, we could have avoided a lot of the trouble we've had. But this is pure speculation on my part.

At 4/13/14 01:21 PM, Decky wrote: But the outside is all the way over there. Do you really expect me to stop searching through the forums of this great sight and go enjoy the rare English sunshine? Well, actually I'm going to.

Nice deck.

I went outside and picked up all the fallen sticks in the yard earlier. It's beautiful out today, but way too windy to just sit out there.

Meatballs and/or ham. The two do not go well together. Extra cheese, I always like. Sausage I have to be careful of since some kinds make me sick. Bacon I have to be in the mood for because it's really salty.

It's always a challenge when my husband and I order pizza because he likes stuff that can make me sick, as well as stuff I hate, like black olives. If we go for a pizza with ham or meatballs, or extra cheese, that tends to keep us both happy.

At 4/12/14 11:49 PM, Piggler wrote: The forecast earlier today was pretty long.

Slight chance of cocks.

At 4/13/14 12:35 PM, vyacheslav wrote: Serbs are our brothers. NATO bombed Yugoslavia. We will not forget.

My husband is half-Serb and knows his Balkan history extremely well. The problem is that once Tito died, everything there went to hell. Whether or not the bombing was justified is still up for debate in some groups.

My hometown is full of Bosnian refugees now. I always had to keep my husband's Serb background under wraps. The pronunciation of my married name is actually Serb, but the spelling is Hungarian (which he also is), so nobody really figured it out.

Of course, the initial problem was that all these ethnic groups that hate each other were basically grouped into one country and told to get along or else.

Interesting fact: According to a professor of mine who worked for the government, the Yugoslavian situation was priority #1 of the elder Bush administration in terms of foreign policy. But then Saddam invaded Kuwait and priorities shifted, and all those groups were left behind. Maybe if everyone actually continued to give a damn, things would be different and all those people wouldn't have died? I dunno.