Where have I been? The story of an ANGRY EYE

Hi everyone,

I would send a newsletter, but this font is much larger…let me explain.

Feb 3rd, I underwent corrective LASIK surgery due to my severe Miopia (Nearsightedness) at Duke University Eye Center.  These people really know what they are doing.  If you are considering LASIK, I still think it is worth it, but I had a slight complication due to my genetics, not LASIK itself.  Oh and my sudden stupidity as well. This is not a story to bash LASIK.  I think it is a safe procedure.  If anything this story is a reason NOT to bargin shop your eyes.  Especially when they start to get angry.

I have what is known as Recurrent Corneal Erosion, which means…I have loose Epithelial cells on top of the anterior stroma.  This was not noticed pre-lasik, because it is very hard to identify if you have never had any eye trauma (which since I’ve worn glasses since age 12, they have sort-of protected me for a long time). What basically happens is that the Epithelial cells (Outside “Skin” of the eye) are just not sticking correctly and adhering the surface of the cornea (the anterior stroma) properly.  Well, the stroma as I have discovered has the most nerve endings of any part of the human body.  Very painful when the Epithelial cells are loose.  Luckily for me, the Epithelial cells are the fastest growing cells in the human body, but when you have recurrent corneal erosion, they heal, and then break away and heal again and….well it is a vicious and painful cycle.

For me, the right eye has been this way since the surgery but was starting to heal and the left eye has been good.  BUT, here is the ‘stupid me’ part.  I was driving to the EMC Midrange Storage Dinner last Wednesday evening and I caused a corneal abrasion with the tip of a eye dropper while driving 65 mph down I-40 towards Durham, NC.  Welllll, great.  Now I have two bad eyes, it’s dark out and I wasn’t wearing sunglasses (sorry blues brother’s is still one of my all time favorite movies).

Last Thursday the miracle workers at the Duke University Eye Center (BEST DOCTORS EVER) placed contact lens bandages on both of my eyes.  To my surprise Friday and even Saturday were GREAT.  I was seeing 20/20 again and feeling awesome.  If you read me tweets from last Saturday you can see that I may have had a beer or two and was enjoying my time and well, feeling awesome.  Then…I went to sleep.

Sunday morning I woke up and I felt like I was cutting Onions. I was crying a lot but it was burning so much.   Constantly…for like 4 hours.  The Daytona 500 was on and it was so bad I went to see the AWESOME doctors at Duke before the race finished.  They concluded what I did, and felt… another recurrent corneal erosion caused by the contacts slipping on the eye.  OUCH.  If someone can please comment on this post and let me know who won the Daytona 500 that would be great.

Monday came and they removed the contacts.  My left eye began to heal again and felt OK Tuesday morning, but my right eye was very very ANGRY.  My wonderful Eye Doctor/Surgeon was busy with 9 other surgeries that day so the Chief of the Duke Eye Center offered to fix my eye for me at 1:30pm.  I took him up on his great offer. About one hour later he had removed the diseased epithelia on the surface of my eye and used some high tech lasers to smooth the surface.  The theory (which is very successful with some of the medical journals I have been reading) is that the new cells that grow back will be much healthier than the old ones.

I went home and rested thanks to the valium they gave me during the surgery and my new friend Oxycodone-Acetaminophen 5-325 which calmed the ANGRY EYE. I knew something was up with the drugs when I think I talked to my Dad for about an hour and a half about the miracles of computers, lasers, model trains and the stock market, yet I don’t recall the whole conversation.

Today, the surgery is even better.  I go in for more testing tomorrow, but I’m 20/30 in the left eye and blurry in the right, but tomorrow I expect to see even better.  Maybe I’ll even type something about storage…oh wait, did I mention that I got paid today and the paycheck system resides on a EMC DMX3-2500 and a DMX4-950?  Ok there you go, some storage stuff.

Beware…the ANGRY EYE

@sangeek

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