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.