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.