My experience with Lasik
So I wanted to have good vision again. I investigated Lasik for a while and decided to get it done.
Lasik is actual eye surgery. It should not be done by unqualified surgeons.
November 2010 – It was getting close to the open enrollment cutoff for my workplace. I had to decide how much I wanted to put in my FSA account for 2011 spending. At this point, I was thinking I could use it to get Lasik. I looked at the qualified expenses, and there it was, LASIK! First step before committing the funds to the FSA was to find a few Lasik surgeons in the area.
I went to 3 different surgeons, and after about an hour of tests and consultation with each, they all said I qualified for Lasik. Great news for me. Each surgeon had a different price and different equipment. From there I researched each surgeons equipment and their experience doing Lasik procedures.
- Surgeon 1 – Said I qualified for Lasik. His equipment in his office is a Nidek EC-5000 with the eye tracker upgrade. It will be a traditional lasik procedure. The cost will be $995/eye.
- Surgeon 2 – Said I qualified for Lasik. His equipment in his office is a Wavelight Allegretto using wavefront. It will be a custom lasik procedure. The cost will be $1400/eye.
- Surgeon 3 - Qualified. Her office uses the Visx Star S4 IR wavefront guided. It will be a custom lasik procedure. The cost will be $1350/eye
The costs between traditional and custom lasik highly differed. After research, I found many people that got the custom lasik procedure enjoy better night vision and much higher percentage of patients that get to 20/20 vision. While the Nidek EC-5000 is a solid machine, approved by the FDA, and have been in use for quite a while now, I decided that if I was going to correct my eyes, I wanted the best I can get. That eliminates out traditional lasik for me. (Though patients with higher levels of myopia, typically -8 ore greater, traditional lasik is the only option in laser correction. But for even more extreme cases of myopia, consider IOL or ICL.)
Day 1 – Procedure Day
Easy enough, have a friend drive you to the location. Redo nearly all the eye exams again to make sure nothing has changed since the last tests. Then pay up and enjoy some Xanax. This is definitely one of the few times you want to relax. You are lead into the operating room, your eyes get numbed, eyes held open, and a layer of eye is shaved and flapped open. A precise eximer laser sends light pulses on the eye, reshaping it. Both eyes, the procedure lasts all of 15 minutes. You get up and walk away to do some more eye tests.
At this time, the moment the surgeon put the flap back onto the eye (yes you are fully awake during this), the blurry view of the underside of the equipment became crystal clear. Same went for the 2nd eye, and when I was sat up from the operating chair, I remember being able to see fine texture on the wall and read the time on a clock on a far away. Amazing! Looked outside, everything looked sharp.
Went home after tests, was suppose to just sit around keep eyes closed, but got lunch instead and filled the Rx for steroid drops and antibiotic drops. Spent the next 12 hours sitting around in bed, eyes closed, but not sleeping. It was recommended just to keep the eyes closed as much as possible and use the drops as prescribed.
Day 2 – Followup Exam
The usual followup exam the day after. Drove to the doctor’s office without any major problems. No pain or too much unmanageable dry eye symptoms. Went through more eye exam tests. Vision tested at a 20/15, but I feel that I guessed really well. Didn’t want to squint my way to another line on the chart. Otherwise everything going well.
1 Week – Followup Exam
Vision spectacular. Signs of dry eye, but nothing preservative free eye drops can’t fix. No problems with eye exams. Still in the habit of looking for the glasses whenever I go anywhere. Wearing sunglasses everywhere due to bright light sensitivity.
1 Month – Followup Exam
Vision not getting any better or worse, starting to stabilize. Not experiencing random moments of blurriness anymore. At this point, the 20/15 line on the eye chart is much clearer than it was last month. The 20/20 line was far too easy, EVOTZ2. Easy. Dry eye is slowly going away. World still too bright.
I’ll continue to publish updates as I go along. Still have a 3 month and a 6 month exam followed by the annual eye exam.
Shakedown – you are doing it wrong
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=65e_1298253629
Now I am not a crook, but if I was in this situation, the correct way to shakedown someone
- Find a friend, escort sucker to a private room.
- Have sucker empty pockets.
- Guy one has sucker turn around and pat sucker down, guy two goes to wallet, takes money, and puts back wallet.
- Guy one continues the verbal beatdown
- Guy one and guy two escorts guy out
- Most important, don’t videotape.
Worst President
Election 2012 just around the corner, and I am ready to declare a Republican victory. Til then, I’ll exercise my right to point out why I feel President Obama is going into the history books with the likes of Taft, Nixon, but fortunatly not as bad as Andrew Johnson. In 2012, I think this country will get another Dwight Eisenhower, since that is what we all really need.
But Obama gets a few points of credit from me. He did spur quite a bit renewed interest in this country and the Constitution. Sure we might have the Tea Party, but that is good that we have another view. He is calling attention to the debt, but unfortunately not really addressing it.
And personally, I learned change is not always good.
Profiles of the Inland Empire driver
Since I have lived in Riverside for the last 11 years, I am fully qualified to make these statements. People of the Inland Empire, you drive horrible. The IE makes Chinese driving look skilled and professional.
Lifted truck guy – Nevermind that your truck requires a step ladder to get in, and you need to leave a trailer hitch get into the cab, these are a very common occurrence in the IE. Lifted trucks can usually be found traveling in the fast lanes of the freeway in excess of 15 mph over the posted speed limit. They can be often found with various stickers on their truck, such as Monster Energy, TapouT, or the Famous sticker. At night time, these become a vision killer as their bright lights will kill your night vision. Also often seen towing ATV’s, dirt bikes, or jetski, usually on their way to/from Glamis or Lake Havasu.
Beat the sh!t up car - You want to avoid these at all costs. Usually uninsured drivers. You will get screwed if you have an incident with one of these.
Nice car - If you see a Mercedes, BMW, or other luxury make around the area, there are only two reasons. First is the driver is an Asian and a student at UCR. Nevermind how a student can afford the upkeep on a luxury car that costs twice their tutition, it just happens. Second is the driver is a middle age woman pretending to be a housewife of Orange County.
I suppose the only great thing we do have in the IE is the lack of democrats.
Daily Highlight
Today’s highlight comes at lunchtime. I was lazy and didn’t want to kill my record MPG stat on the hybrid (hybrids require a warm engine to get the engine shut off operation to save gas at stop) and walked to Togos/Baskin Robbins.
Ordered up the $3.99 special Italian sub. Some regional manager comes in and meets with the store owner. They sit in the dining room.
“Well, you are going to lose your franchise rights with Baskin Robbins if you don’t install soft serve?”
“I can’t afford it. The equipment costs too much and there is no room in here. Besides, I really don’t want it anyways. Hardly anyone buys the ice cream, but I was forced to get the ice cream to open this store.”
“But that is what corporate wants and they want to know why this store doesn’t have it.”
“Mainly I can’t afford it. This store is running such small margins already.”
Poor Korean store owner being hassled. He was also hassled why he didn’t offer hummus on the menu. He said no one buys it, so it isn’t worth keeping on the menu.
Another day, another drive
Today’s route: 91W to Imperial Hwy, return trip 57S to 91E.
Outbound time: 6:10am – 7:15am = 1 hour, 5 minutes
Inbound time: 4:10pm – 5:30pm – 1 hour, 20 minutes, but used 91 Express Lanes. Some douched crashed on 57N, making it a headache.
Purchased fuel. 5.4 gallons, drove 248 miles. 45.9 MPG. Not bad at all.
Traffic Madness
I am conflicted which route to take this week on my treks from Riverside to Brea.
Monday
- 91W to Imperial Hwy – 90 minutes
- Imperial Hwy to 57S to 91E – 80 minutes, using 91 Express Lanes
Tuesday
- 60W to 57S to Imperial Hwy – 88 minutes
- Imperial Hwy to 57S to 91E – 95 minutes, using 91 Express Lanes
Going to Brea
Advantages of taking 91W
- The pain is only when you have to pass I-15, and a slow putt all the way to the Orange County line. Then fine all the way to final destination
- Faster if light traffic
Disadvantages of taking 91W
- More hills, less MPG. I do a mild case of hypermpg’ing. (Hybrid provided by campus pushing 43.5 MPG average)
Advantages of taking 60W
- There are none
Disadvantages of taking 60W
- A lot of trucks. It is not uncommon to have a wall of 3-6 big rigs in lanes 3-4.
- Congestion all the way from about Hwy 71 all the way to final exit.
Coming from Brea
Advantages of taking 91E
- 91 express lanes
Disadvantages of taking 91E
- Fastrak expensive.
- To enter 91 express lanes, you must start going 57S to 91E, adding a few miles to trip
Advantages of taking 60E
- Smooth sailing after you get onto 60W from 57N. Then trapped once again you get past Rubidoux.
Disadvantages of taking 60W
- Slow 57N.
As you see, there is no way to win in traffic. Just bend over and take it. I used to do this daily for 2 years. I gave up.
Carbs
Producing bread takes far too long. Just buy it in the store… And oh yea, Kyocera black ceramic cuts extremely well.
Lazy Saturday
Lazy pets.
Hello World
I might do something interesting here. Shrug.