First Appointment After Making the Decision - Iridotomy

My first appointment with the doctor after making the decision to have the surgery was on Friday, March 26, 2010. I drove the 4 hours to get to Denver to go to the doctors office. On the schedule was a 9:45 appointment at the office, 11:30 appointment at the surgery center, and a 2:30 appointment back at the doctors office. When I got to my doctors office he asked if I had any questions about the surgery. I really didn't, but just asked him to confirm that this was the best thing for me. I told him my concerns about my outdoor lifestyle and he told me it wouldn't be an issue. I handed him my signed consent form - stating I knew the risks.

He did some tests at the office, looking at my pupil size, double checked my prescription, etc. He then told me he's see me at the surgery center at 11:30. I was astonished that he'd be there with me. I even asked him, "you are going to be there?". He laughed and said of course he was going to be there. At the time I thought that I was going to the surgery center for pre-op tests - things that were minimally invasive and just tests, etc. I think I remember him telling me that he was going to do something to my eye to reduce the pressure during surgery, but not sure.

I went to the surgery center alone, really not thinking anything would be a big deal. I chatted with the nurse while we waited for the doctor, drank some juice, and thought about being able to see without contacts or glasses. When the doctor got there he brought me into a room with a machine that looked like the one at his office - place for your chin, forehead, etc. He then explained to me that he was LAZERING MY EYE! Again, he may have told me this before (I can't remember), but I quickly became a little nervous. He told me not to worry and that it would just feel like a few pokes - he told me this was the absolute worst part of the entire process. The nurse put a ton of numbing drops in my eye and then I just stuck my chin on the machine. He asked me to look at this red light, then asked me to look lower, lower, etc. I remember thinking - oh God, don't move your eye or you're screwed. Then he zapped it. Horrible pain. Zapped it again. More pain. I didn't know it at the time - but I was getting an iridotomy.

The nurse told me I was instinctively moving my head back and helped to push my head into the straps. He zapped me a few more times. I remember at one point he said "you have really thick corneas, we're going to have to turn up the juice". Then another Zap - at that point I considered telling him to stop - I'm done - no more torture. He felt horrible and kept telling me I was doing a good job and he was so sorry that it hurt. Then he went onto the other eye and did the same thing. After he was done my right eye was bleeding a little. But overall he said things were ok. He then asked if I was ok to drive. I could barely see the gigantic sign on the door of the room, so they told me I could wait in the waiting room until my vision got better. At this point I was astonished that they would even consider letting me drive home. I sat on this chair, inside the large waiting room (probably at least 60X60). I remember putting on and taking off my glasses - my eyes being so messed up that there was no difference in vision - I was blind either way.

I sat on the chair and remember looking at the seat next to me. There was an Allure magazine on the chair. I told myself - as soon as I can read the magazine cover I can go. I sat, and sat, and sat. I chatted on the phone to friends I hadn't seen in a long time. I remember telling one of my friends "I can't even see enough to know if there is anyone else in the waiting room". My vision was getting a little better, but not much. I was getting close to my appointment at the office, but I really needed to eat. So, since I knew where I was going (grew up in the area) I decided to leave.

I'm just going to say at this point that this was a really stupid decision. No one was around in the surgery center, and I was starving (i'm hypoglycemic) and needed to eat. So, I got in my car - with the vision of a 95 year old. I remember telling myself, as I drove out of the parking lot, "just get behind a big car and follow it". To which I did. I couldn't really see the stoplights and would just wait until the person in front of me, or beside me moved until I moved. I remember coming to intersections thinking, "ok, I'm pretty sure I know where i'm at", only to realize a minute later I was completely off. Keep in mind that I grew up in this area. I got to a large intersection where I was the first person in a double turn lane. I couldn't see the light at all. So, I waited until the car next to me went. Unfortunately, cars started honking first. I waited a few seconds, then decided to go. As I passed by the light, I saw that my light was green - good! I parked, went into the restaurant and ordered some food. I was at Jason's Deli and remember that I wouldn't be able to read the menu - whether on the wall or the small one. I couldn't even see the face of the guy behind the computer taking my order. When I paid I held my wallet so close to my face it was rediculous.

I got my lunch, and my eyes were really sensitive, so I picked a seat in the back away from the windows. I called a friend of mine and told him everything that was going on. I was fairly upset that I didn't know what the procedure was that he was doing, and that my eyes were sensitive. By the end of eating lunch my vision had come back to me - good thing because that night I had to drive from Denver to Utah for a training for my new job. I went to the eye doctors office where they looked at my eyes again and told me they looked good and were going to be ready for surgery. They gave me some drops to put in my eye from that day until the day of my surgery - less than one week.

I drove from Denver to Utah and got stuck in a snowstorm on Vail pass. Fortunately, I got through and went to bed with eye drops in my eyes. I woke up in the morning, ready for a training for my new job. I made sure to wear a hat as well as my prescription sunglasses just in case my eyes were sensitive. I was outside hiking and rapelling most of the day. The training even went into the evening where we hiked some slot canyons in the moonlight until 4:00am. During this whole time I didn't have any issues that I can remember. I just kept putting the eye drops in, and wore my hat and sunglasses. I returned home on Sunday night, getting ready to teach snowboarding the next day.

Decision Time

I knew that if I wanted the surgery I would have to make a decision soon. My winter season would come to an end in April, and I started a new job for the summer in May. Besides, mountain biking season was coming up and I wanted to be able to ride! I don't know exactly when I made the decision, but I decided to go ahead with the surgery. One of the things that sold me on the surgery was that it was reversible. If it didn't work with my lifestyle, I could have the thing taken out. Things just seemed right - the recommended age was 21-45 (I am 28), was good for people with high prescriptions (I'm -8.0 & -8.5). I was told it wouldn't interfere with my outdoor activities - so I decided to go ahead with it. I really felt like it seemed like a fairly simple surgery - something like Lasik, but just newer. It sounded very safe with little to no lasting side effects. I decided I needed to do it near/between my off season (April - May). The recovery period was only listed as a few days so this would give me more than enough time to adjust.

I called the eye doctor and made a series of appointments to do tests, etc. before the surgery. I tried getting a hold of my parents to tell them about what I was doing. My dad was really busy and had problems getting back to me. So, I sent him and my mom an e-mail listing my appointment/surgery dates on them and included a little April fools joke since my surgery was on April 1. Here is what the e-mail looked like:

Here are dates & times for surgery stuff:

Friday, march 26

945 office

1130 surgery center

230 office

April 1

830 be at surgery center

930 surgery starts - yikes!

400 office

April 2

900 office

April 5

115 office

That's all!!

Dad- did I tell you I was having surgery?? Getting my boobs done!

Sally Palmer

Sent from my iPhone

Needless to say my dad freaked when he thought I was getting my boobs done (haha). He e-mailed and called me at least 10 X that day. I let him go on for 1/2 hour on the phone before I told him the truth (I'm a jokster).

So, that was it. I decided to do the surgery. The more I talked to friends who got Lasik, the more excited I got for the prospect of being able to see without contacts. The one thing was that I didn't do much research besides what the doctor gave me and what was on other similar websites. Being in a PhD program, teaching at the college, teaching snowboarding and doing mountain rescue trainings literally took all the time I had. I trusted what I had been told - that there were little to no risks and that it was a simple surgery - the best option for me.

First Appointment with the Doc.

My first appointment with my eye doctor went very well. I originally went in to ask him about Lasik surgery. I want to point out that I have been going to this eye doctor's office since I was a child, I completely trust the entire staff and doctors there. I knew if I was going to consider any type of eye alteration - they would be the only ones I would allow to do it.

We discussed my history (including the fact that he told me over a year ago to switch to one day contacts - something I wish to God I would have done), the problems I've been having, and what I was thinking. I told him my eyes were rejecting my contacts, I needed to see because of my profession, and I wanted to look into Lasik. So, he ran some tests, poked and prodded at my eyes, and then came back to discuss the results. He told me he didn't think I was a good candidate for Lasik. He said that with my prescription (-8.0 & -8.5) the risks associated with shaving down my cornea were just too big. He told me I just didn't have a cornea thick enough to warrant the surgery. At this point my heart sank as he told me Lasik is just not good for people with such a horrible prescription.

He then told me that there was another option for surgery. I specifically remember him telling me that he didn't know why more people didn't do it, besides the fact that it was a relatively new surgery. It was called ICL, Implantable Contact Lens. He told me that like all other surgeries, there are risks associated with it, but that he thought it was the best option for me. He gave me a brochure to take home with me and even mailed me (snail mail) a document and a cd to watch that described the surgery. He recommended that I go for a second opinion, but that if he were in my shoes and had the same problems I did, he would do the surgery. I asked him several questions related to the surgery and found out a lot of things. The one thing that I was adamant about was the fact that I need an option that will allow me to work outside. That is the most important part of my life and if there were possibilities of any issues with that I didn't want to do anything. I was told that again, like any surgery, there are risks. But he felt that the likeliness of any complications were more than extremely low. The other thing I was told, that really sold me on the surgery, was that the procedure was completely reversible. If I did not like the results I could have it removed. I was overjoyed when I heard this. With Lasik - you can never get your cornea back, with this surgery you can get back to your normal self if you don't like it - PERFECT! I also found out the price of the surgery. Because you have to actually go to a surgery center, it costs much more than Lasik. He told me he'd get an exact quote, but said it was around $3,000 per eye.

So, I went back to my small mountain town and considered the thought of having this surgery. I remember getting the DVD of the surgery, watching it and being fascinated by what we can do now -medically. I read the brochures and other information he sent to me, and looked on other doctor's websites. All of the material was pretty positive - I kind of felt like my Doc did - Why didn't more people do this surgery?

Here is a link to a brochure that looked similar to the one the doc gave me: http://www.visianinfo.com/Refractive_options.pdf

Can't wear contacts anymore

Last summer (2009) I worked as a course instructor for an organization that ran adventure programs for kids of families who are currently serving in the Military. I was lucky enough to get to spend over a month in Hawaii with this program. During my trip to Hawaii I found that my eyes were not as bothered by my contacts as they were at home, so I wore them more frequently. This was wonderful, as we were doing lots of water sports. When I returned home (7,700 ft above sea level) my eye problems came back and I only wore my contacts when I was doing high impact sports.

Over the winter I worked on the weekends as a snowboard instructor. I wore my contacts much more frequently because I couldn't ride the extremes with my prescription sunglasses, and it was easier to work with the kids when I was wearing goggles. Throughout the winter my eyes really started to bother me. I would put my contacts in right before I taught snowboarding, and would take them out the minute I was done. My eyes began to get really red and irritated. I bought many bottles of Visene to deal with this problem. What was worse was that I taught at the college on the days that I didn't teach snowboarding - so I would frequently be teaching my class with red, irritated eyes (can only imagine what they thought I was doing). So, I started to wear my prescription sunglasses more and more, trying to give my eyes a rest. It came to the point where I couldn't even wear my contacts anymore. I tried brand new contacts, going without them for a few weeks, lubricating drops, nothing worked and I felt like I looked like a complete pot head when I did wear my contacts.

I became fairly upset at this issue. I had heard of people whose eyes had "rejected" their contacts after years of wearing them, but I thought after such a great summer it wasn't going to be an issue. I started having problems with my prescription sunglasses - the lenses started to pop out, and one day, in the middle of spring break (busy season) my sunglasses broke in two pieces at the nose. I was so upset. I live in the middle of nowhere and there was no way I could get new sunglasses anytime soon. So, I sent the sunglasses in the mail to Nike (sunglasses manufacturer) with a note about just how much I needed my sunglasses. I also talked to someone on the phone about how important this was - I cannot work outside without my sunglasses. So, I had to revert to wearing my glasses under my goggles - which was a huge pain. I got my sunglasses back within a few weeks and was relieved to be able to teach again. However I was frustrated with the fact that I could not ski the extremes due to the fact that the "picture" would bounce around while I was wearing my sunglasses. I literally couldn't see where I was going and I was chained to blues and blacks on the front side of the mountain. I worked on riding switch and doing tricks since I couldn't go on the extremes.

As my frustration mounted, I started to think of other options. I had always thought of Lasik surgery, and remembered thinking in my early 20's "as soon as my prescription stabilizes I'll get lasik". Well, my prescription had stabilized, so I thought maybe I'd look into it. Years earlier my mother got lasik and was extremely happy with the results. She boasted about how it was one of the best things she had ever done and even told me she'd help me to pay for it if I ever decided I wanted to do it. So, I decided to look into it. I made an appointment with the eye doctor's office that I had grown up with. I drove 4 hours to get to Denver to see him.

My background/history

Hello, and welcome to my blog page! Whether you are friends, family, or someone I have never met, I hope the information provided within this blog provides you insight, entertainment, education and anything else you may be looking for. This is my first blog, I decided to write it after reading several others about ICL surgery. I feel like this is my time to share my story and hopefully help others to learn more about this procedure.

From the beginning:

I have always had bad eye sight. I was the little blonde girl in second grade that had the big pink plastic rimmed glasses. The things practically took up half of my face. However, as a child glasses weren't a big deal to me. I actually remember thinking to myself as a child, "It would be so cool to have both braces AND glasses at the same time" - a thought that now makes me laugh at myself. Thank God I never got the braces.

When I was in 7th grade I decided to give contacts a try. I remember trying to get them in my eye in the middle school bathroom, it was much easier than I expected. I started wearing contacts very regularly from that time forward. I wore my glasses only between taking my contacts out at night and getting to bed. I almost never wore my contacts over night - maybe twice on accident throughout my entire life. However, I did wear them for the entire day usually.

I remember going to the eye doctor when I was in high school and he told me that I needed to wear my contacts fewer hours during the day. While I appreciated his advise, I still continued to wear them all the time - I felt like most other teenagers do - invincible - his advise was for someone else with bad eyes. I have always been very outdoor oriented, and would wear my glasses at nighttime when I was backpacking. I also tried to extend the use of my contacts - wearing 2 weekly contacts for more than their recommended wearing period.

My prescription continued to climb throughout high school and into college. I had horrible vision, which only made me want to wear my contacts more. After I graduated college I moved to Portland, Oregon for a bit. One day while I was getting ready for work I put my contact in, it felt like there was dust or sand underneath the contact, so I did what I usually did and took it out, flushed my eye with solution, and put the contact in. However, after 30 minutes of trying, the dust feeling would not go away. I had to go to work in my glasses -eek! While at work I continued to feel this feeling of something in my eye and asked my boyfriend at the time to bring me some eye wash solution from the store. He brought it, I washed my eye out several times, and nothing happened. After a few days of not being able to put my contacts in, and still feeling this dust in my eye, I went to the eye Doc. I didn't have any insurance, and the doctor was nice enough to see me for free (thank you!). He looked at my eye and told me I had a air bubbles that had formed in my eyes from overuse of my contacts. I had more in my left eye than my right. He told me I would not be able to wear my contacts for a long time - he guessed about a year. I was horrified. So, I got use to just wearing my glasses, which reduced my outdoor activities to hiking and some road biking. After a few months in Portland I moved back to Colorado for a job in the small town I came from.

My eyes started to heal very well, my eye doc in my new town kept me up to date on the progress of my air bubbles. My right eye healed before my left eye. I remember trying to go mountain biking with one contact in, bursting into tears halfway through as I thought about this terrible loss of my eyesight. I felt like I would never again be able to fly down the trails like I use to. After awhile my left eye healed. However, because I was so timid about ruining my eyesight I always wore my glasses, and only put in my contacts when I was doing an outdoor activity or at a special event. Even then, my eyes would get irritated and red after wearing my contacts for what used to be "normal" wear. I remember being a maid of honor for my best friend's wedding. I asked the makeup lady to put light makeup on my eyes because I had to put my contacts in right before I walked down the aisle. Even after only wearing my contacts for the wedding and reception, my eyes were red the next day. At another wedding I knew my left eye was going to be irritated, so as a bridesmaid I walked down the aisle with one contact in. When you have vision as bad as mine, this is troublesome. I told the groomsman that I was walking with that I would be holding on to him for dear life.

I had several events like these. One contact in, unable to really see what was going on. I "acted" like I could see everything, smiling when I knew it was appropriate and usually holding on to someone for dear life when I was walking anywhere. Wearing heals became even more dangerous - remember, i'm a tomboy mountain biker - anything above flats is like walking on stilts. Yet, I was able to do it with the help from my friends.

Right after I graduated college I purchased my first (and only) pair of prescription sunglasses. It literally took forever to find them. My prescription is so bad that the sunglasses I wear cannot have any curvature to them - the glass/plastic is too thick to bend. They were extremely expensive, but did the trick. This gave me the ability to be outside, and participate in "low impact" outdoor activities (hiking, kayaking, backpacking, xc skiing, etc.) without the "picture" bouncing around. However, I found it impossible to wear these sunglasses when mountain biking, snowboarding, or doing any other "high impact" sports where the picture (my sunglasses) literally bounced around and I couldn't see anything. So, i only wore my contacts during these high impact sports and at special events, a good way to reduce the time in my contacts.

At this point I must tell you that I am more than just an outdoor enthusiast, being outdoors is my life, my career, my everything. I got my undergraduate degree in Recreation and Business, and my masters degree in Psychology and Adventure Education. My passion in life is to help individuals grow psychologically through adventure based programs; ropes courses, kayaking, rock climbing, backpacking, skiing, you name it. I am also a member of the Mountain Search and Rescue Team where a group of volunteers work many, many hours training and going on missions to help individuals who may be lost, hurt or compromised in the outdoors. I also help to plan mountain bike races in my community to raise money for the local trails organization. So, saying I'm an "outdoorsey type" is literally just the tip of the iceberg. I am also an adjunct faculty member at the local public college in the Recreation and Outdoor Leadership department where I share my skills in facilitation, program planning and the psychology of recreation experiences with students. In the wintertime I am also a snowboard instructor at Crested Butte - a good way to get a ski pass, have some extra money, and work in the industry at the same time.

The last thing you should know about me for my background is that I am a 28 year old female. I am extremely independent and strive to make a difference in this world, whether it is talking with my students at the college, going on a rescue mission, or planning a race that brings more trails to our community. I also recently started a distance PhD program with Colorado State University. I'm in an interdisciplinary studies program studying education, psychology and recreation. My goal is to someday have a full time faculty job at the local college. So, that is where i'm at for my background/history. I'm young, in great health, in shape, dedicated, and my life revolves around the outdoors.