Monday, August 9, 2004

9:41 PM Today’s entry in the Crosswalk weblog is called Alan Keyes on Hannity and Colmes. 5:54 PM My eye surgery went well. This was my 6th surgery overall, and it was by far the easiest one. Even so, it’s still a strange sensation to have your eye taped open and watch the doctor as he cuts the surface of your eye. Dr. Rosenberg made two crescent cuts in the white part of my left eye. He explained afterwards that as the cuts begin to heal, a tiny scar (invisible to the naked eye) will form in the slits he created. The scar tissue allows the outer layer of the eye to relax so that it flattens, thus reducing or even eliminating the astigmatism. What he can’t predict is how much scar tissue will form, but I got the impression that the more, the better, which is the opposite of what you usually want. This brief procedure is a form of the older version of corrective surgery called RK—radial keratotomy. I have to use antibiotic drops and steroid drops for a week, but otherwise there are no restrictions. At the moment I can see just fine out of my left eye but it feels like someone slit it with a tiny razor blade, which is in fact what happened. It doesn’t hurt, really, but I can feel it, if that makes sense. Dr. Rosenberg says I should start noticing improvement in my vision tomorrow. 8:30 AM This is a big day for me because I’m having eye surgery this afternoon. In 1999 I had LASIK surgery to correct my nearsightedness. The initial surgery was a success in that I no longer wear glasses (as I had done since the fourth grade). However, I had various problems and as a result, have had four follow-up surgeries over the years. One of my problems has been a moderate level of astigmatism, which has seemed to worsen in the last year or so. I’ve been able to see okay but not great because things look blurry out of my left (dominant) eye. This afternoon Dr. Michael Rosenberg of Northwestern University Medical School is going to make two tiny cuts in my left eye that will relax the muscles. Those tiny cuts are much less than the usual procedure of cutting and lifting the flap. The two tiny cuts should heal very quickly, but it will take about a week to determine the result. There is very little risk to the surgery, and any improvement in my left eye would be a good thing. 8:23 AM Monday morning shout-out to Kim Wolfe, Lucy Hom, Judy Achieng, Dan Jacobs, Nathalie Davis, Mary Mattucci, Tom and Sharon Nutter and the gang at “Camp-of-the-Woods” this week, Gig and Martha, Fred and Marilyn Miller, and a special greeting to Birgit Barandica in Germany.