I can see again

 

Shirt: J. Crew (Similar here) | Jeggings: From Jee Fang (Similar here) | Shoes: Superga

 Sunglasses: ASOS (Similar here) | Bag: Gracious Aires (Similar here)

Once upon a time, possibly when I was 10 or 11, I became short-sighted or myopic, and needed to wear spectacles. Of course I looked like a total dork. Small lenses, big lenses, thick frames, skinny frames, no frames - I tried them all. And looked horrible in all.

Gather around students.

I never really felt comfortable wearing specs so I started wearing contacts during the day when I went to school and while it felt much more comfortable, I guess I really wished that I didn't have that additional hassle to put them on and take them off, and ensure they were clean so I didn't get an eye infection. Finally, in March last year, Mousie and I decided to try for Lasik since we felt like our degrees had more or less stabilised and it would be a great sister bonding experience.

We decided to go with Dr. Jacob Cheng from Eagle Eye Centre because the rates there weren't crazy expensive (my friend paid $8000!! while we paid half of that) and my sister had heard good reviews of this clinic (and also because this hottie doctor wasn't available I think). We booked our first appointment to see Dr. Cheng and were advised not to wear contact lenses for a week prior.

At our first appointment, they applied some eye-drops to dilate our eyes then we went through a bunch of tests run by nurses to scan our eyeballs to see if we were eligible for the surgery. Basically, what I understood was that I would need pretty meaty corneas so that they could slice away at it to make the eyes see good. Science pro right here.

When the good doctor concluded that our corneas were indeed fat enough to be spliced, we were slotted in that very afternoon for the surgery, once the dilation had gone away. Mousie tightly wrapped her sunnies around her face because she had major light sensitivity while I just wore my sunnies and exited the hospital pretending to be a celebrity who had just had plastic surgery.

We went back later that afternoon and Mousie's eyes were still dilated because she's just the best at everything she does, including maintaining eye dilation. Dr. Cheng decided it was ok to proceed on her so the nurses gave us some pills, one of which was Valium, to calm our jitters. Mousie, normally anxious and tightly wound floated like a cloud, while I just felt sleepy. We laughed a lot wearing our hospital gowns, shoes and shower caps.

Pre-surgery feeling sleepy while trying to rock the shower cap look

I don't even remember this. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The latest in fashion footwear

Then I died.

Ok, I didn't die. It was time for my surgery so I went into the sterile room, and lay on a bed surrounded by machines and had the big zappy laser pointer that was going to cut my freaking eyeballs pointed at my face. I believe they clamped my head down but honestly I kinda blocked a lot out because TRAUMA. I went from kind of sleepy to extremely tense and scared. The doctor pressed something firmly down with a lot of pressure over my eyeball, I presume some suction thing to keep my eyeball in place before the laser cutting. With that, the sight went from that eye and I went dead quiet. That feeling was so foreign and so uncomfortable to me I might as well have been abducted by aliens and experimented on. The suction held on for about 30 seconds, there was a burning smell (my eyeball being cooked by aliens), and then they removed the suction thing. One eye down, one more to go. My heart was racing and it felt like it took FOREVER when in fact each eye probably took less than a minute.

Those are my toes curling from the fear

Mousie was totally floating

And then she prepared to give birth

After Dr. Cheng had completed both eyes, they helped me sit up and asked me to tell them the time from a large clock that was about 2 metres away. I was so flummoxed that aliens were asking me for the time, then it dawned on me. I could see. Not perfectly, but quite well! Hallelujah I wasn't blind!! Then out of nowhere, someone whipped out a camera and said, 'CHEESE!' and took possibly the ugliest photo* of me ever. They later gifted me this photo in hard copy. So they give you sight and then make you see the ugliest thing ever. That seems a little cruel.

Immediately after surgery. It looks like I'm crying because I totally felt like I should have!!

OMG this post has run really long so I'm going to stop here but I'll write another post about the healing process in the next one! Sorry to leave with such an awful picture LOL! Thanks for reading!

* I was unable to locate the picture which is seriously a pity because I looked SO bad and you would have definitely enjoyed the laugh but the above one is probably second runner up in terms of ugliness so you're welcome.