Africa photos

Yet again, there has been a bit of a gap between blog entries, but since most of you are on facebook it seems less relevant now! Anyway, a link here to the Africa photos for anyone who hasn't yet seen them and wants to - we got everything done that we set out to do and all had a great time. Here you can see us teaching the haka to some of the little ones!

Far too much to write here about everything that we did during the fortnight there, but I'm hoping to go back next year not least because we are also collecting bras to donate to a clinic in the Congo (where they are very difficult to get hold of) and I have collected over 100 so far, making it more sensible to go over myself rather than spend loads on postage and shipping. I just went to a drug-rep sponsored training day today and got some of the reps on board who have given some nice bright pink bags that I can use to sort the bras into different sizes for transportation then to give to people there, as well as pens and stationery and stuff - whatever anyone says about the ethics of seeing reps, they have their uses!

I was supposed to have my redo lasik the other week, but unfortunately it got cancelled as the laser had to be serviced that week, so looks like I won't be able to get it until early next year, when I can book some more study leave around it. It's not a problem, and means I'll get more use out of the glasses I got online, I bought another pair as they are now selling them for £8.50 including postage, so I now have a pair to keep in the car and a pair in the house for watching TV etc.

I'll leave it there for now, maybe will do another post sometime in the next week ie before I go on the next trip!

Tw@tter

Well, another 2 months gone, time for an update. I'm off to Rwanda tomorrow and am half-packed so far, with such essentials as 100 glowsticks and lots of sweets requested by the expats. Hoping it's going to be great fun, I've been getting texts all week from those who are already out there, so it's going to be good to see them once I get there on Sunday.

I'm not too hopeful about the chances of getting internet access, so if you want to see what I'm up to, I have (somewhat reluctantly) signed up to Twitter. I still don't quite understand it, but apparently I can text it short updates, kind of like the status thing on facebook that I don't do that often, unlike some people who I hear update it like every 5 minutes. No, I'll do the odd one to save having to text everyone individually, at least that's the idea, you can follow it here.

What news have I got since the last update then? Well, I saw my eye consultant earlier this week and in fact have got a little bit worse again, so he's going to attempt some more lasering in September. Apparently I have the dubious honour of being the first person needing a redo since they switched to the intralase all-laser procedure, but given my initial starting prescription, it's not hugely surprising. Slightly disconcerting was his comment that he's "never lifted an intralase flap" before, but the technique he assures me is the same, and I've no reason to doubt his ability. So I've booked another week of study leave and will fit the studying around the op.

On a more positive note, I managed to win a mobile phone by getting the "Letter of the Week" in Heat magazine earlier this month, I had been trying to win one for my dad to borrow as he left his phone at the flat in Cyprus, and has been driving mum mad borrowing hers and forgetting to give it back or pass on messages. I had a brainwave for the sort of thing that I thought might get picked after realising that Heat give away a phone or something every week, and it paid off (you can see my work of literary "genius" above)!

I'm heading off now to do some more packing, will perhaps do an update when I return, grubby and aching from 2 weeks camping...

Extreme makeover part 2

Lasik is so last month, now it's all about the teeth! As my wisdom teeth have come through in recent years, they seem to have pushed out of line my lateral incisors (second teeth in from the front on the top) which were starting to rotate round and cross over, and were looking more and more uneven compared to a few years ago.

Nothing drastic, but it was annoying me as well as making it hard to clean and floss properly, so after a bit of investigating I settled on Invisalign which are a set of removable plastic aligners that over the next year will gradually push the teeth back to where they should be. I got the first set this week, and after feeling like Jaws (the one from the Bond film, not the shark) for the first couple of days, they are settling down and I am getting used to them. I have to wear them 22 hours per day in order to work, as I get a new set of aligners every 2 weeks, each one very slightly different in order to gently move the teeth. I had a bit of a speech impediment for the first day but this has gone now, and I'm amazed at how unobtrusive they are and people only know they are there if they are told. The downside is that I can't eat with them in, or drink anything other than water or clear fluids, which might be a problem when out and about, but on the positive side I won't be able to snack!

So what's next? Perhaps botox? Lipo? Who knows! I think I'll be drawing the line after this though...

LASIK, 6 weeks on

As you may gather, today's picture is not especially encouraging, but I am hoping it is going to be a short-term measure.

I had my 6-week check up earlier this week, and as I've previously said on here, I hadn't thought that there had been any improvement for a while, and that I hadn't yet got the perfect vision I was after. Well, that was confirmed at my appointment and as I'd guessed, I am still a little bit short-sighted. I'm -1.25 in the left and -0.75 in the right, which is still a darn sight better than I was before, and within the predicted range for the surgery given my former prescription. My consultant was very happy with how things have gone - aside from being a little under-corrected I have had no problems, have healed very well, and am not experiencing any dryness or other side-effects. He has said though that I have to wear glasses for driving especially at night, but I am going to try not to wear them at other times as I do not want to be reliant on them, despite the fact that I cannot read the TV guide on my TV. So I have ordered a pair of the glasses shown here for under £20 off of the internet, as even if they look rubbish, I'm hoping that they won't be a permanent fixture.

So what now? My consultant has said that there is the option of having a "refinement" ie another laser procedure in 3 months time if my vision has been stable, but that he wouldn't automatically recommend it for such a relatively low level of myopia especially if there is any chance of it thinning the cornea too much. I guess it depends on the actual measurements which I will have taken at my next appointment in July - if it is down to me, and assuming the cornea can take it, I definitely want it done as I'm quite conscious of the deficit. It would only require a very small additional correction, and I would like to do all I can to get the best possible result overall.

People have asked me whether I am annoyed at not having 20/20 vision yet - I'd say that whilst yes, it is bummer and not quite what I was hoping for, I had been fully informed beforehand that especially for high prescriptions, it is not possible to guarantee perfect vision and the improvement has been so good that I would still certainly recommend having it done. I can't fault the clinic or surgeon and I think one has to be realistic about the limitations of treatment and the fact that there are no absolute guarantees. I have been looking on some LASIK fora and have seen some people on there who clearly were not adequately prepared and have found it hard coping with results, so I am pretty chilled for the moment. I have found someone who is in almost exactly the same position as me in that she had treatment at the same time, also from a -8.5 baseline, and who also has ended up similarly under-corrected - so we will be comparing experiences in the coming months.

My next appointment is at the end of July, the week before I go to Africa, so I will update re the LASIK then. The next topic will probably be on a more dental theme...

LASIK, three weeks on

Thought it was time for another quick update, although in all honesty there is not a lot to report. I haven't really noticed any change in my vision in the last week or two, although am more aware that it can fluctuate depending on the available light and time of day.

I braved the night driving last week and must admit I didn't like it very much - I get lots of haloing around bright lights, and contrast is way down meaning that whilst I can see enough to drive, I can't read street names or signs until I am up pretty close. So I'm going to try and avoid it as much as possible, or at least limit it to places where I know where I am going so can concentrate on the road rather than the signs. But daytime is fine, and I think perhaps I am getting better at reading signs from a bit further away than previous.

My right eye remains noticeably stronger than the left, and I am still reading around the same on the Snellen chart - at times I can read the 6/5 line with the right and usually the 6/12 with the left, but the letters are still a bit hazy around the edges and detail isn't as sharp as I'd like it to be. I'm seeing my consultant again in two weeks and so hopefully then should be able to find out whether there's likely to be further improvement (I hope so...) But still, I'm happy with the results as it's done what I wanted in terms of ditching the glasses for general activity. I tried on my brother's glasses last week who is only very mildly short sighted (he thinks about -1.5) and thought that they were too strong, so that was quite reassuring, and I guess I have to continue to be patient!

Probably no more LASIK updates til after my follow-up appointment unless there is a major change, but I've got next week off work so might get around to saying a bit about Vegas after all.

(and for information, today's photo is a rough illustration of what my former uncorrected vision was like, not what it is like when I drive at night following surgery)!

LASIK day 10 update

Time for another update - things seem to be settling down in that my eyes aren't sore any more (the left one is still a bit bloodshot and battered), and I'm only using the lubricating drops infrequently. The steroid drops continue for another few days but there's no discomfort aside from a very slight dryness in the mornings. So all is going well, I think.

With regard to acuity, I have been testing it at work and in the mornings I can now see 6/5 with my right eye and 6/12 (blurred) with the left. There is a noticeable difference between the two but as the left was a diopter blinder to start with, I guess I have to allow it time to catch up! However this is all a bit misleading as although I can see very well on the 3m corrected chart, once the distance is increased it's not as sharp as before, or what I hope it will end up being so the acuity sounds falsely good in my mind. I have been told not to expect to eventually see as well as I could with my old glasses or contacts as like many uber-myopes, I had been over-corrected and so had got used to seeing lot better than what would be considered normal. Strangely enough I don't think I'll mind that though, the novelty of being able to see as soon as I wake up and not needing any help to do so is way cancelling out any annoyance I feel at not having abnormally razor-sharp vision. My next check-up is not until the 11th May so hopefully I'll have a proper test then and will have a better idea about where I will end up. I've not yet braved night driving as I am getting the halo effect (ball of light around headlights and streetlights) but think I'll give it a go next week (anyway I'll have to as I have a couple of late surgeries).

I have also stopped sleeping in my ski goggles. I waited until there was no scratchiness remaining in my eyes because of my tendency to sleep on my front, and didn't want to risk dislodging anything, but think it should be fine now. And, being well aware that my goggles have a pink tint to the lenses, wanted to steer well-clear of any accusations that I might be on one end of the slope towards a soft collar (take note of the seamless link, readers...)

Just to prove that people do read this thing, I had a request last week to write something about soft collars. An anaesthetist friend of mine was having a rant about the high proportion of soft-collar/tinted glasses positive people in the pain clinic he was doing, an lamenting the fact that half of them were people he had referred to the pain clinic in an attempt to pass the buck when he was doing a previous job. So now he gets the joys all over again. Now I'm not at all being derogatory to people with genuine conditions but there is, in many cases, a large supratentorial component. Signs to watch out for are the soft collar, especially when accompanied by several copper and magnetic bracelets, tinted glasses, wrist splints, and mobility scooters without a discernable reason for needing on. Sort of like Andy, in Little Britain. Often the women have lots of cats, which is yet another reason why I am not going to get a cat...

Anyway, I digress. There are no tinted goggles any more, certainly no soft collar and no cats. I plan to spend the rest of the weekend eating my body weight in chocolate before starting on a health kick next week. I managed to give up crisps for Lent (well, aside from a couple of bags that I had in Vegas, but what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas and so doesn't count). As long as I can fit into my jeans (a bargain £7.50 from Sainsburys!)

Day 6 post-LASIK

Time for another update - and pleased to report that there has been a noticeable improvement in my vision in the past two days. It seemed that after the immediate change on the day or surgery, there hadn't been much in the way of progress, but I had been expecting this to be the case so wasn't ready to start stressing out just yet. Yesterday was the last day off before going back to work, and when I woke up I looked through my bedroom doorway onto the landing where there was a Primark bag (it's amazing how much stuff you can get from Primark for a tenner, but that will have to wait for another time), and I was able to see the writing more clearly than the previous day. So after getting up I went outside to check my driving standard, and after pacing out 20.5m from some neighbours cars in the close, felt more confident that I could read them clearly and from this confirmed that I was ok to drive.

So today it was back to work and driving in did not present any problems - I'm aware that distance is lacking the clarity of focus that I eventually hope for, but the driving itself seemed fine and I guess I am getting used to having temporarily (I hope) reduced vision. The discomfort has mostly gone too, I'm still on the 6x daily drops but that goes down to twice daily as of tomorrow, and 'm using the occasional lubricating drop if they get a bit dry, But no scratchiness, and the bloodshot bit of my left eye is also settling. I'm still sleeping in the ski goggles, after reading online that lots of other places recommend eye protection for at least a week - I was told three days by my consultant but I thought I could do with a longer period as I usually sleep on my front and am more liable to put excess pressure on the area as a result!

Work was a 50:50 split between those who wanted to know all about it (including the 2 receptionists who want it done, one who has relieved me of all the odd contact lenses and my spare pair of glasses as she has a very similar prescription), and those who couldn't bear to hear the actual details due to being grossed out by talk of eyes. But in general they were all interested to hear how I'd got on and agreed that I look better without glasses...

In terms of quantifiable vision, I had a go on my eye chart today and measured my right eye as 6/9 and left as 6/18 to 6/12 - these were taken in the afternoon at the end of the day when vision is not as sharp as the morning, so I will be able to see how this progresses as time goes on. With both eyes together I can easily see 6/9 and verging on the 6/6 albeit blurred, so hopefully satisfactory for this stage - will update this as it changes. And if this makes no sense to you, you may want to have a look at this link for information!

LASIK day 4 update

As promised, here is another update on the state of my eyes and general vision. I'm now day 4 post-LASIK and the eyes are feeling a lot more comfortable than previous, although I am having to put drops in every couple of hours and am using lots of lubricating drops. I was given some plastic eye patches that I was told to wear for at least the first three nights (to stop you accidentally rubbing your eye overnight), but they were fairly uncomfortable and had to be taped on with steri-strips, and I was getting pressure marks and red patches from the steristrip adhesive, so I decided to use my initiative and have switched to sleeping in my ski goggles which are a bit more comfortable. I have had requests for pictures illustrating my night-time attire, I assume they meant with the eye patches and stuff as it's not that sort of blog...

So, back to the recovery so far. I think I left things in the evening on the day of the procedure, so will bring you up to speed on what has happened since:

• By wednesday evening, my eyes had a gritty, uncomfortable feel, like an abrasion (for anyone who has ever had one of those). I had been provided with some local anaesthetic drops but didn't feel sufficiently in pain enough to warrant using them. My vision had improved slightly, I could see more clearly but it was still blurred. The night was fine, apart from waking up with red rings around my eyes from the plastic shields and steri-strips - they had almost disappeared by the time I met a friend in town the next morning.
• Day 1 post-op was much the same - possibly slightly clearer vision on waking up, but it was jut a novelty not having to reach straight for the glasses. I decided to venture into town to see a friend and found it more comfortable wearing sunglasses as bright lights are a little uncomfortable. In preparation for getting back to driving which I hoped wouldn't be too long, I was pacing down the road counting out distances from number plates, and didn't think I was quite ready, which was fine at the time as I was told it might be a day or two. Still a bit of discomfort and lots of drops as per instructions, but no real complaints so far.
• Day 2 post-op was time for the first follow-up appointment. I decided against driving in the end as although I'm aware that the minimum legal standard is surprisingly low, it would be too much of a change from what I am used to, so thought I'd wait to be formally tested back at the hospital. First I had to see the nurse who checked my acuity which just met the driving standard, but as it was quite blurred I was advised to leave it another couple of days. It is quite hard to get a feel for how well I am seeing as there is a lot of variation depending on position and blinking, and it will continue like this while the healing is taking place. The nurse reassured me that I was seeing entirely as expected for someone with my degree of previous myopia. Then it was through to see the consultant, who announced that my "flaps look perfect", in fact he could hardly see the one on the right. Again I was reassured that my vision was entirely as would be expected at this stage, and reiterated that it could take up to 6 months before it is perfect. Although I'd been expecting another appointment after a week, he said there was no need for that, given that the eyes looked so good at this stage, but I can get in touch before the next one (in a month) if I have any problems.
• Day 3 post-op was much the same - I am aware that the right eye can see a little better than the left, but that was the better one anyway so there is less healing to take place. I managed the supermarket fine, but still not braved the car.
• Now I'm day 4 - I've noticed that my eyes tend to dry out by the end of the day and first thing in the morning, so am using a lot more lubricating drops in addition to the steroids and antibiotics that I was given. I'm not really noticing any change in the visual side of things - watching TV is possible but not totally sharp. What I have noticed more is the halo-effect whereby bright lights and text on the TV (white against a black background) have fuzzy haloes around them. The same applies for streetlights and I assume headlights, so night driving will have to wait for the moment. Again, this is completely normal for this stage and is particularly common for the higher prescriptions, so I'm not worried at the moment!

I probably won't be doing daily updates on here as everything seems to be going ok and it's just going to be a slow process waiting for healing and for my vision to stabilise. Driving is I guess my main concern - whilst I have been told I am just about ok, I'm going to check my prescription again tomorrow before I actually give it a go. Luckily it's a short week because of Easter, so only 3 days until the next weekend, and hopefully then I'll be able to see a bit better. I will keep you informed...

Warning - contains eyes! Do not read or view if squeamish!

Only a three-month gap between blogs this time! I was going to do one the other week after my holiday to Vegas, but I decided that will have to wait as I have something more suitable for blogging to report on. After being a specky-four-eyes for around 25 years, I finally decided to try and ditch the glasses and contacts altogether as it is just too much of a faff for camping and holidays and things. So yesterday I had LASIK treatment and thought it was worth detailing the experience.

The Preamble:

I am (rather, was), what is termed a "high myope" (someone with prescription worse than -6.00 diopters). My last eye exam stated I was -8.5 in my left eye and -7.25 on the right, which equates to being able to see clearly up to 12cm, anything further away getting progressively blurred. So first thing in the morning I had to reach automatically for my glasses before doing anything. Contacts were fine, and I had excellent corrected vision, but I did get dry eyes with the contacts which limited the time I could wear them for, and they weren't practical for the sorts of holidays I do. Not to mention the vanity factor - I hate wearing glasses as can never find ones that look good after putting the thick milk-bottle-like lenses that I needed. They had to go! In the past I would have been too blind for laser treatment but in recent years new techniques have been developed that have extended the scope of treatment, so I figured it was now or never. I chose to have it done at the local nugget (private hospital) as I know and trust the reputation of the consultant, and felt they would provide better care than the high street clinics (where you may not see the surgeon until op day). Plus they are better placed to deal with any complications quickly as they do the full range of corneal stuff rather than just refractive surgery. More expensive, but hopefully worth it.

The op:

After all the assessment stuff that I had a few weeks ago, I had the treatment at 9.30 yesterday. I was remarkably chilled out about the whole thing, and I promise there had been no valium involved! I just knew that I trusted the surgeon so figured there was no need to stress. I got taken into the theatre and lay on something resembling a dentists chair, and everything went fairly quickly after that. I understand that people tend to be more stressed than I was, so I was told that they like to get it done quickly. The right eye was attacked first which involved having anaesthetic drops in, the eye clamped open, and eyelashes taped back. Then they apply a suction ring so that the first laser can cut the flap in the cornea (for details about the procedure used, see here ) although I had the intralase version whereby a laser rather than knife is used to make the flap. The suction ring feels a little uncomfortable, like pressure directly onto the eye, and the vision goes totally grey with lots of sparkly firework-like specks as the flap is cut. After about a minute the suction is removed and a pointy stick (or that's what it looked like to me) was used to fold the flap back. Then the chair swings round under the main laser, and I had to stare at a red flashing blob while the scent of burning (yes, my burning cornea) filled the air. Couldn't feel a thing though. The flap was then replaced using the pointy stick, more drops were installed, then he moved onto the left side. I think the local anaesthetic didn't work quite as well, as the suction and flap cutting was a lot more uncomfortable, bordering on the painful. It felt like an octopus had attached itself to my eye and was trying to suck out the contents while biting down, but it was bearable despite being unpleasant. The rest of the procedure was straightforward, and I was back in my room within 15 minutes.

The aftermath:

Slightly sore, bloodshot eyes, like looking through blurry contact lenses. I could already see distances more clearly although blurred, and was instructed to go home and sleep for a couple of hours. I spent most of the day lying in bed, and will describe the effects and further progress over the coming days. Watch this space!

This video below shows a speeded-up version of it all - it's not me as I didn't think to ask if I could get a video of my treatment. You might have to replay it as when I tried, it does something funny and misses out the first bit the first time it loads!

(4771 views as of 2/9/09)

Credit Crunch - what Credit Crunch?!

In these gloomy financial times, even the shops have taken on a more morose style of window-dressing... actually this is not quite true - it's what appears to be the Tehran version of Top Shop, taken on my trip to Iran last October.

Regular readers will spot that I've not blogged for ages, I must admit the novelty has sort of worn off and I don't want to be one of these people who spends more time blogging about their lives than actually getting on with living them. So I'll probably be doing this less often, but will still try and get something down from time to time, whenever I have something that I think is worth sharing! The reason for being on here today is that I am off work with the flu - I was sent home 2 days ago for being ill and told not to come back til next week. Whilst it has been very nice to indulge the virus by lying in bed and on the sofa watching daytime TV (with the volume turned down so's not to interfere with the pounding head and throbbing ears), I am not a very good patient and have decided today to try and do a bit more. Nothing too strenuous - I went to the shop to buy some ribena and more ibuprofen and paracetamol (you can only buy enough for about 3 days at a time in one go), and have been researching holidays and finding a new credit card.

The title of this blog is actually directed at Virgin, who have just agreed to provide me with my next card. The 0% interest period on my current one runs out in a few weeks so I wanted to get one lined up to take over, and their deal seemed like a good one. However despite all the stuff there is in the papers about reducing our debt and companies cracking down on credit, they seem to have completely ignored that and given me a credit limit of £22,500! Absolutely ridiculous. For the first time ever I might ask them to reduce it...

So what has been going on since I last wrote something? Well, mostly same old same old, with a couple of trips thrown in (which seems to be my only vice these days). Iran was really interesting, you can see the photos here for anyone who has not already had a look on facebook and posted sarcastic comments about what I look like in a burka. I had a great ski trip over Christmas too, and am now starting to plan the holidays for this year. After a lot of faffing I've managed to book a couple of weeks off work in August to go back to Rwanda to help with the orphanage-building project - can't get enough time to go for the whole period but should be able to stay for the second half which should be really exciting.

Anyway I am in need of another warm ribena so am going to leave things for the moment and mabe not leave it as long as 4 months before the next update!

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