i can see clearly now, the rain is gone~!

4 out of 5 papers are done!

econs was like shit, i think i’m going to make use of my S/U this time around if i get anything below a B+ haha. microB, pharm pract and pharmaco were all much better than i expected. but i shall not get my hopes up too high in case the results show otherwise

it was extremely intense towards the end of the week though. between wednesday and friday, i was just cramming and forcing myself to stay awake 17 hours in a day just to finish studying for pharm pract and pharmaco. really torturous! i had TTA (tension type headache- haha style one you know, also got acronym) every single day and i was trying not to take paracetamol in case like its going to affect my lasik on friday. ok there is probably no pharmacological basis to that, but i was just being cautious haha.

and then i had diarrhea. i dont know whether stress can cause diarrhea because the notes dont seem to say so, but i had it. and thanks to kaye’s Dhamotil, i’ve been constipated ever since 2 days ago. a relief from all the number 2s i’ve made, but also abit worrying because now i’m scared i’ll get impacted feces and megacolon. damn you pharm pract..

anyway, the main highlight of this week was LASIK

long story short:

everything went perfectly, i can see very clearly, but i look like a vampire.

and now here is the long story:

so after pharm pract, i flew down to paragon for my pre-evaluation. the whole thing took about 2 hours and they made me do at least 6 different eye tests, and only half of which i knew what they were for, for a detailed examination of every single detail about my eye.

i remember one of the tests had a machine to test for glaucoma, and involved blowing a rapid blast of air into your eye for dunno what. and EVERY TIME they blast the air, despite the person giving a warning 1 second before, i JUMP. of course not jump out of the chair la. but jerk and it probably is a normal reflex but it’s freaking unglam hahahaha. plus they did it 3 times per eye so i was spazing out like an idiot 6 times.

i was most afraid that my cornea would be too thin to support LASIK. and over the course of the week, i kept telling myself not to expect so much, in case i might not be a suitable candidate for LASIK. but wow, turns out i have a thicker-than-average cornea! some people are born pitch perfect, I WAS BORN FOR LASIK YO!

my degree (R: 200, L: 300) was also within the perfect range for LASIK, not too high and not too low (such that it is completely unnecessary?)

very niceee, so i was ready to go ahead with the surgery and it was scheduled to 530pm later that day. after finding out that i couldnt wash my hair and face for the next 48 hours, i had to go home in the 2 hours free time to shower for the final time. right now my hair is all bunned up so that it doesnt touch my eyes and contaminate it. and i’m using facial wipes to clean my face and no matter how many times i do, i still feel so unclean haha.

at 530pm i was back and had to sign a consent form. haha could barely focus on the reading but it said something about agreeing that you were not forced into taking up LASIK by the very smooth-talking doctor. oh, i got Dr Jon Goh, btw. very nice guy, haha and definitely did not coerce me into doing LASIK.

by 545pm, i was scrubbed up and ready for surgery. but then my left pupil was still dilated by the eyedrop (Atropine?) they used earlier to test my eyes for something. wah i tell you the dilation felt damn weird and i lost the ability to focus on near objects, unless i took off my specs. haha so i guess i had a preview of what long-sightedness would be like in the future.

so i had to wait a full hour for them to certify me ready for surgery, after 3 nurses came over to check my pupil size, i was finally told that i could go in. omg it was so longgg i felt asleep because i was so exhausted from having barely slept the night before!- i was so excited that i kept waking up at night because i dreamt that i had perfect vision already, only to realise it was a dream -.-

during the waiting period, i saw this woman walk out from the OT, and her eyes were so swollen, bloodshot and teary! and she was like struggling to speak because of all the tearing. omg….scared me like hell la! but then too late, mum already paid for the LASIK. no more escaping!

well, just before i went in, they made me read out my IC number for verification, and then a numbing eyedrop was administered.  btw, they made your eyes feel like theres something flat on the front of your eyeball but you kind of don’t mind that it’s there. hahaha, and no, that’s different from being drunk.

in the operating room, i lay on the bed and they clamped my head down with these 2 side cushions. haha wah lao eh! i had on a mask and a scrub cap of course. Dr Goh came in and said a few reassuring words, although by then i wasn’t really nervous because i knew it was going to be over in 15 minutes.

first, they swing me over to a machine. then Dr Goh fits something into my eye to widen it. and it’s definitely not a gentle process. he has to practically shove the device in, despite your natural muscle reflex to resist it. it’s the worst feeling in the world really, because he makes you assist him in the fitting in partly by moving your eyeball in the direction that he decides. and then once it’s in, he uses another device to make a cornea flap. despite the numbing eyedrop, i swear i could feel a very slight pain when i heard the ‘clip’ sound- sound of the blade cutting a flap out of the cornea. and this was pretty much the worst part of the entire op. lasts about 5 minutes tops, but felt like 10 minutes because of the extreme pressure forcing your eyeball open.

plus hor, throughout the whole op, you will have to focus on a stupid red light permanently. it takes a HELL LOT of effort to do that! after they do whatever they’re doing on my right eye, my left eye feels too weak after all the focusing, so i have to use extra effort just to stare at the stupid red light. wah lao next time give me nice picture of rob pattinson la, i sure won’t lose focus LOL!

then they swivel me over to a second machine, which does the real lasering. this time, the widening of the eyeball is done by a gentler device, and they tape your eyelid and nose down. this is the part where i hear that you can smell the burning of your cornea. but luckily with the tape on my nose, i couldn’t. after the machine was done zapping in the right amount of whatever (it’s already programmed based on the tests i did earlier)  to correct my vision, Dr Goh flipped the cornea flap back and used a special tiny sponge to smoothen the bubbles out. and tadah…he does one last eye check on me and i’m off!

at first you don’t feel pain for 15 minutes. and then when the anaesthesia wears off, omg, i started to tear like freaking mad! within 20 mins i could no longer open my eyes and they were stinging all the way on the cab ride home. staring at a red light no longer seemed difficult compared to trying to keep my balance and walk up the stairs while peeking through my half opened and stinging eyes.

when i got home, i popped the sleeping pill, and within 1 hour, i was knocked out for a good 8 hours until 530am. haha this time when i woke up in the middle of the night and tried to test my vision, it wasn’t a dream!! i couldn’t really see the difference when i first walked out of surgery because everything was still foggy. plus when i went home, they taped on the plastic eye protectors. that was really funny btw, check out the picture i tweeted. my extremely sympathetic dad and brother did not fail to engage in some creative name-calling, like ‘scuba-diver’ and ‘batman’ ,the moment i reached home. i even relented to have a picture taken by my mum.

rudolph the red nose reindeer~!

but i woke up in the morning, and like magic, everything felt okay!

no more tearing or stinging. i just have to maintain a 4 times a day course of antibiotics till 10 may, and hourly Refresh Plus eye drops for a month. sounds extremely troublesome, but for perfect vision, its worth it!

and also, i sustained some routine injuries to my eye from the stupid pressure of forcing it open to make the cornea flap. thus, looking like a vampire. hahaha

yes, it is indeed in the shape of a heart. HOW COOL!

i have clots on both my eyes ): gonna take 2-4 weeks to go away so that sucks. meanwhile, no swimming or going to the beach for a month as well. and no makeup for a week. i must be a compliant patient and not waste my mother’s money haha!

ok time to go enjoy my perfect vision on TELEVISION! 😀