LASIK Surgery

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Preliminary results are in from the LASIK surgery after an early morning follow-up with the doctor today. Although I won’t categorize my sight as 20-20, it is darn near close. I’m hoping over the course of the next few weeks, as the swilling goes down my eyes will heal to full 20-20 vision, but only time will tell.

We left the house yesterday to make our way to the Laser Eye Center in Los Angeles around 7 AM. My brother was the designated driver and waited at the Starbucks across the street until the surgery was over, which was around 11:15 AM. The surgery itself only lasted less than 30 minutes. The preliminary tests and paperwork took over 2 hours leading up to that point. The doctors assistants (not sure if they’re called nurses) put me through various eye tests. I was given a boat load of information to remember and documentation to sign while the doctor looked at the test results. There were a lot of patients in the facility preparing for eye surgery, almost too many people, which made things a bit uncomfortable. I also wasn’t a big fan of having to sign my life away prior to the surgery, about 30 pages of documents to initial and sign. The one item I really didn’t like was having to sign a document requiring any “lawsuits” to go through an arbitrator rather than a jury court. This should not be allowed and giving me this document to sign after I had already paid for the surgery was very inappropriate.

The surgery was completed using two separate machines in separate rooms. The first machine was used to create an outline on my eye which would later be opened to create a flap. This was probably the most intese part of the surgery as the doctor used a tool to open my eye lids and then placed another tool around my eye. It felt like they took my whole eye ball out of the socket. The doctor was constantly putting drops in my eyes. Once I was placed under the machine the flap outline only took about 30 seconds per eye.

I waited in that room for about 10 minutes while they set up the 2nd machine. They had me stand up to walk over to the next room. The doctor worked on one eye at a time, first opening the flap on the eye, then placing me under the laser for the machine to do its thing. I was surprised how quick the actual surgery took, maybe 10-15 seconds per eye. At one point I think I heard the assistant say something about 11 seconds. All I really saw was an array of green lights. Then the doctor placed the flap back onto the eye. I could see him using a brush like tool to flatten it out in place.

The surgery itself was only half the battle. For the next 5-6 hours I kept my eyes shut. Each hour I would open my eyes to put in lubricating drops. Every 3rd hour I also put antibacterial drops to prevent infection and steroid drops to reduce the swelling. This whole time I was wearing clear plastic covers over my eyes to make sure I didn’t accidentally rub them. After a couple of hours I took a vicodin as my eyes were burning up a bit. I was able to take a few quick 30 minute naps during those 5-6 hours, but it was an uncomfortable period. At around 5 PM I finally opened my eyes, but only for short periods as I was still very sensitive to light.

From here on out I only have to wear the clear plastic covers over my eyes when sleeping. I also have to refrain from getting water in my eyes when taking a shower. Those swimming goggles I bought many years ago are finally going to be used, just not for the reason I intended. After a couple of weeks I’ll get back to normal sleeping and showering practices.

A few things to note for anyone planning on having the surgery. First, realize that the cost of the procedure is negotiable prior to the date of the surgery. I was told this by a friend after the consultation, but decided against making a fuss at that point. Second, make sure to request all prescriptions prior to the day of the surgery. I was given a prescription for antibacterial drops prior to the day of the surgery, but not the prescription for steroid drops. This caused a little hectic period after I got home and was looking for the drops, only to realize all they gave me was a prescription. My brother had to run out to Walgreens to fill the prescription. So that’s about it for the surgery, on to my next endeavor, whatever that turns out to be.

LASIK Eve

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Tonight will be, if all goes well, the last night I wear glasses or contacts for a very long time. I’m under the assumption that sometime in my 50′s and 60′s I’ll need to wear “cheater” glasses to read as my eyes get old and tired. I’m sure Joker knows how that feels.

All has gone well this week as I’ve prepared for the surgery. Last Friday night I removed my contacts for the last time. Since then I’ve been wearing very old glasses to get through the day and taking lubricant eye drops once or twice a day. I’ve been thinking about how long I’ve had these glasses. The answer: 15 years. It was the summer between my junior and senior year of college, when I was working as an intern for the Depository Trust Company (DTC) in downtown Manhattan. That’s a long time to have a pair of glasses. Since my eye sight hadn’t change much since then and I started wearing contacts not long after, buying a new pair of glasses didn’t seem warranted. Since I started wearing contacts I would only wear glasses while watching TV just before calling it a night.

I’ve had a few nervous moments this week thinking about the surgery. What if the there’s an earthquake during the surgery? Or, what if the power goes out for no apparent reason? Do they have a UPS to keep things working? I’m pretty those thoughts come from field of employment. But seriously, what happens if the surgery is a total failure leaving long lasting side effects? I realize the chances of that happening are few and far between, but it is possible. I’ll have to learn to blog using speech to text software. How else will everyone know what’s going on in my life?!

Luckily, I’m not willing to let “scary” thoughts prevent me from moving forward. Hopefully that will never happen… just don’t expect me to go jumping out of planes, that will never happen. :-)

Southwest 1582 / 2545

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Tuesday, January 3 – Flight 1582
Depart Los Angeles (LAX) at 09:10 AM
Arrive in Sacramento (SMF) at 10:30 AM

Friday, January 6 – Flight 2545
Depart Sacramento (SMF) at 06:50 PM
Arrive in Los Angeles (LAX) at 08:10 PM

Lost in the shuffle this past week between updating the blog with the 2011 Year in Review and 2012 Goals was the fact that I traveled to Sacramento, California. This was a follow-up business trip for a project I started during August 2011. The usual suspects were in place as I flew with Southwest, rented a car through National Car Rental, and stayed at the Fairfield Inn by Marriott. All of those were the same as the trips that occurred in August. However, there was one big change to how it all happened. With all the travel last year I was able to gather enough points to get status with Southwest and National. As a Southwest “A-List” member I’m guaranteed priority check-in, allowing me to board with the first group and get the best available seat. No more having to check-in 24 hours in advance to get the best boarding number. I was also able to use a special baggage check line allowing me to cut the whole line of other people looking to check-in. The perks don’t stop there. I was also allowed to use the priority security lane access, allowing me to again cut the whole line of people going through security. If you’ve read any of my posts about dealing with Southwest on a Monday morning at LAX, you’ll understand how big a deal that is. The perks of traveling also made its way to the renting a car. I’m now an Emerald Club Executive member with National, allowing me to rent the mid-size car and get an automatic upgrade to a full size car. This week I had the pleasure of driving a Dodge Charger. I thought it would be fun to drive a fun/fast car for once, which is about as far from a Jeep Wrangler as you can get. And it was a nice ride. The hardest part was figuring out how to open the gas tank.

A small piece of advice for people that don’t know or don’t rent cars often. Have you ever rolled up to a gas station, parked, the figured out the tank is on the other side of the car? Well, I learned last year that the answer is right in front of you. Located in the middle of the gas gauge is a picture of the tank and an arrow pointing either left or right. The arrow is pointing to the side of the car the gas tank is located. And you thought there was nothing to learn on my blog!

My next travel for business isn’t scheduled until mid-February, so I have another small break from the travel life… assuming I don’t take a much needed vacation at some point in between.

Goals for 2012

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This past week my posts were concentrated on reviewing what happened during 2011, but now it’s time to start looking forward to 2012. I’m again hoping for some changes to occur in my life, changes that will hopefully make it easier to reach my goals this year. The plan is to keep the same goals this year as last. I’m thinking, by keeping the same goals, I’ll have a barometer to work against. I’d like to meet the goals, but if I don’t, I should at least find a way to do better than last year. I guess you could say I have two sets of goals, the same ones as last year and to beat last years totals. So, without further ado, here they are:

  • 150 Days Exercising – There’s something that came up last year that I want to be more specific about this year. The specification is to exercise 150 DAYS. In other words, there is no option to exercise twice during a given day in order to catch up. Also, in order to qualify as exercise, the activity must last at least 30 minutes.
  • 8 Rounds of Golf – This is the one I was most disappointed about last year. After a friend moved to SoCal from the Denver area during the summer I was able to pick up a few more rounds. I’m going to have to keep that ball rolling this year. If I do I should be able to hit the magic number pretty easily.
  • 5 Hikes – This is another one that I should be able to do better at. It’s an easy way to get out of the house to see the backcountry. Well, when compared to Denver, the backcountry is somewhat limited in the LA area, but there are still some remote places to get lost.
  • 5 Bike Rides – Again, to be more specific, these will only include destination bike rides, not the bike rides from my house to Santa Monica. Those will still count towards the number of exercise days, but not towards the number of bike rides. I’m also going to add one more caveat… any bike ride that results in alcohol being consumed during the ride will not count. However, alcohol may be consumed directly after the ride. :-)

    • Keeping up with the same goals as last year, I want to make sure to visit 1 new vacation destination. The location has yet to be determined, but I a have a few running around in my head.

    Wish me luck!

    2011 Year in Review – Posting and Toasting

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    This is the last of my multi-post review of 2011. The 1st part of the review included details about how I did against exercise goals I set at the beginning of the year. The last part of the review, which will be posted tomorrow, will include some details on how the blog did during 2011.

    During previous years I blogged about fantasy football, but didn’t have another subject I would discuss consistently. That changed during 2011 as I began posting about airports, airlines, hotels, and car rental companies during my travels. Most of my travel was for business purposes, but I was able to mix in some personal travel posts here and there. Overall it was a successful year for the blog and I look forward to more good years ahead. Here are some numbers to chew on

    • 17 – Most searched term that resulted in a google link to the blog. The search term: thessaloniki beaches.
    • 48 – Total page views during 2011 for the most popular post, Apples (Mac) vs. Oranges (PC), which was originally posted to the blog in June 2005. This does not include the home and about me pages.
    • 137 – Number of blog posts this year, the most for any given year since inception (2005)
    • 392 – Number of page views during the month of November, the most monthly page views of any month during the 4full years stats have been tracked.
    • 3,083 – Total page views at Poulios.com, which is highest total views for the year in the 4 full years stats have been tracked.

    2011 Year in Review – Travelling Man

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    The is the 2nd of my multi-post review of 2011. The 1st part of the review included details about how I did against exercise goals I set at the beginning of the year. The last part of the review, which will be posted tomorrow, will include some details on how the blog did during 2011.

    At the beginning of the year I knew there was going to be a good amount of travel this year, most of it for business purposes. As the first few months went by I started thinking this could be a record year, of which I think it was. However, I have no data to back it up at this point. You’ll just have to believe me.

    Using my travel itineraries and a tool provided by webflyer.com I counted the number of days I spent on the road (106) and the total miles flown (45,674). The numbers were kept a little lower at the end of the year by working remotely on a few projects. Cities I visited included:

    • Baltimore, MD
    • Birmingham, AL
    • Canton (via Cleveland), OH
    • Denver, CO
    • Indianapolis, IN
    • Las Vegas, NV
    • Nashville, TN
    • Oakland, CA
    • Sacramento, CA
    • Salt Lake City, UT

    As part of all this travel I was able to get some “status” with Southwest Airlines and National Car Rental, along with picking up a good amount of hotel points with Marriott and Holiday Inn (Priority Club). However, the extensive travel took a toll on me mentally and physically, so I’m hoping the numbers will come back down to a more reasonable level during 2012.

    2011 Year in Review – Goals

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    This is the 1st of a 3 part year in review of 2011. Later posts will include a review of my travels during the year and an update on how the blog did during the year.

    Way back on January 1, 2010 I posted my 5 goals for 2010. There was 1 overriding goal, to work out 150 days during the year, which was supported by 4 sub-goals. The sub-goals included 8 rounds of golf, 5 destination bike rides, and 5 hikes. In addition, I wanted to visit at least 1 new vacation location. Well, here are the final results:

    • Total Hikes – 3 (60%)
    • Total Destination Bike Rides – 0 (0%)
    • Total Rounds of Golf – 5 (62.5%)
    • Total Exercise Days – 72 (48%)
    • New Vacation Destination – Grand Canyon (100%)

    Obviously, I didn’t hit the numbers I was hoping for, but this provides me a baseline for future years. The plan is to use these same numbers for each of the goals for 2012. A new post with the goals for 2012 will be posted later in the week.

     

    Fantasy Football – Week 17 Preview

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    This will be the last fantasy football update (and blog post) for 2011. This also happens to be the last week of the NFL season. Going into this final week I’m 7 points behind the top spot overall and have a 9 point lead over the 6th spot, which is important because the top 5 spots finish in the money. I’m going with 4 upset picks this week, which is actually down from the original picks I made earlier in the week.