Looking ahead

Post Laser Eye Surgery

Max’s post is below, but since he’s had all the limelight on this one, I thought I might reclaim the top spot and give you my two penny worth first 😉

This has genuinely been the oddest thing. Max wore lenses when I first knew him and was quite vain about his appearance in some ways. I was always quite tickled that at night he had funny old, bottle bottom glasses, so at odds with what he thought of himself in the day. But when he moved to glasses I got used to it, as you do and there are definitely some advantages, once your body has been ravaged by six babies, of a dearest husband who can’t see you once he’s got into bed 😉

I did find the day very nerve-wracking; normally it is Max looking after me and I don’t like the feeling of worrying about him, but once he was home and all okay, I was so pleased to see how thrilled he was and incredibly chuffed to have repaid his patience with my online life by making this happen for him. But the second night, when he was essentially back to normal, it suddenly hit me that he could see me at nightie time!!!

It took a few days to get used to that 😆 I also, bizarrely, found myself slightly shy of him; in some strange way it felt as if I had inexplicably got my boyfriend back, not my husband of 15 years who I’ve had six children with. I really struggled to look him in the eye for a few days! Considering it was the children who worried they would miss his be-glassed self, it was actually me who took the longest to acclimatise!

It’s amazing how used you get to something new though; already photos of him in glasses look weird and wrong and I can see the difference it has made to him. It feels like I’ve finally been able to pay him back a little for all the good things he’s done for me over the years.

It’s now two weeks since I had Laser eye surgery with Optical Express as part of the Team 21 project and the results are fantastic. My eyesight is now better than 20/20 and certainly as good as or better than it was when I wore glasses. During the first week after the surgery I had to use eye drops (anti-biotic and anti-inflammatory) and wear some very attractive protective goggles at night to ensure that my eyes healed from the surgery with no complications but I had no ill effects or discomfort and at my weekly check up I was signed off as having healed perfectly.

Getting used to not wearing glasses is a bit strange; I am still moving to take off my (imaginary) glasses when I get in the shower or turn the light off before going to bed, I guess these are routines that are so deeply ingrained that they will take a while to go. But at the same time it becomes normal so quickly that it almost seems strange now to imagine wearing glasses; it reminds me of bringing a new baby home and suddenly the world is different to how it was but within a couple of weeks you can’t imagine how things were before.

What has really surprised me is that I do feel more confident; I hadn’t expected this as I’ve never thought that I lacked confidence but I guess that when you wear glasses and your prescription is high enough that you are effectively disabled without them then in the back of your mind there is always the concern that if your glasses were to get damaged or lost then you’re going to be in trouble. The upshot is I’ve now got a driving urge to dive into a swimming pool or take up Rugby or maybe even jump out of a plane (with a parachute); all those things that felt undoable in specs. I was told during the consultations that I would have to wait about 4 months after surgery to do these sorts of things so I feel a few New Year’s Resolutions coming!

Looking back over the past month it really does feel like a life-changing experience and like most people I had spoken to before I had the surgery the only thing I would change in hindsight is that I would have done it sooner. I’d like to thank everyone at Optical Express in Cambridge and the Team 21 people for their care and support throughout this process and for giving me this fantastic opportunity.