ICL 1st and 2nd consulations

Back in November, after meeting with my optometrist, I scheduled an appointment at the Eye Institute.  I met with L (I'll just use initials for staff members' names) for the initial consult.  She was fantastic and very knowledgable.  She did lots of measurements on my eyes to check for corneal thickness and shape, astigmatism, etc.  She answered all my questions and I felt really excited.  She said that I should come back after I was all done nursing Bree (to avoid those pesky hormone complications) and that I should also not wear my contacts for at least a week (blurgh....I hate my glasses.)

I got a follow-up call from J, another staff member who specializes in ICL, and she too was wonderful and just raved about ICL.  She said that I'd absolutely love it!  I've talked to her on the phone several times and she's great.

So today I go in for my next set of measurements after having worn my glasses for the last 10 days.  (Did I mention that I hate them?  They are super old and the prescription is out of date, so my vision is not so great with them...plus they're pretty dorky looking.  But the worst part is that I can't wear sunglasses with them and my eyes have always been super sun-sensitive.  It's been annoying, to say the least, squinting in the sunlight with my nerdy glasses.  I got a pair of dorky sunglass inserts that go under my eyeglasses and look completely stupid.  I'll have to post a picture of me wearing them.  Miles is very sweet though, he says I look like a superhero in them...I guess because they kind of wrap around my head like the "Incredibles'" masks.)

When I got there today I met with M.   Hmmm...what do I say about M??  Suffice it to say, I was NOT impressed with M.  She seemed to fumble around the different machines and second-guess everything she did; I didn't think she really knew what she was doing, and my anxiety level was steadily rising...  Plus she mentioned that I needed another appointment for another dilation/exam sometime after today, but before my surgery (this was the first time I had heard about this...)  Bryan is out of town all next week, so he can't drive me to another exam (I can't drive myself due to the dilation) and if I don't get this other exam in time, they won't be able to order the correct lenses before my surgery.  So we were scrambling around, trying to get ahold of my optometrist up here to get an appointment.  Luckily we got one scheduled for next Saturday, so it will all work out OK, but I was beginning to feel pretty stressed out during my consult today.  And the crappiest part is that I have to keep my contacts out for another week while I wait for this other exam.

After that was taken care of, M told me about the next test that she'd be doing.  She said it felt "really weird, but it doesn't hurt."  I was already feeling not-too-confident in her abilities, so I was getting more and more nervous.  She took me back and showed me what looked a bit like a small funnel.  She had to numb my eyes, then spread my eyelids wide and place the funnel thing in my eye.  She had a hard time getting it in place and, again, kept second-guessing herself.  Then she had to pour water into it.  With the water floating around she placed the tip of a probe down into the water (thankfully the probe didn't actually touch my eye.)  This procedure takes an ultrasound of the inside of your eye, to get another needed measurement.  That took a while and both my eyes were watering like crazy!  It did feel weird, but not painful, like she said.  But by this point my anxiety level was really high and I was feeling pretty emotional.  (Anyone who knows me at all knows that I'm really emotional--a.k.a. a bawl-baby--anyway.)

***I'm going to just take a moment here to rant a little bit to all medical professionals: whether you are really good at your job, or not really good at your job, you need to at least ACT like you are really good at your job!!!! There is nothing worse for a patient than a doctor/nurse/assistant/whatever who acts nervous about procedures. It's like a nurse trying to start an IV, and they fumble around, worried that they are going to hurt the patient, wondering if they can find a vein, yadda, yadda, yadda. Then, inevitably, they botch it and the poor patient ends up with a huge bruise on their arm. I think the best doctors/ nurses/assistants/whatevers are the ones who are confident and act like they know exactly what they're doing (even if, secretly, they don't.)  OK, rant over.***

At this point M asked L to come in and take over.  Because M was not as familiar with this particular procedure (surprise, suprise...) and she felt more comfortable with L doing it.  So L did my second eye and it went much more smoothly.  Even though the second eye went better, when L was done I just started crying.  (Remember: bawl-baby)  I felt dumb.  And, wouldn't you know, this was the exact moment that Dr. Cionni happened to walk by and introduce himself to me for the first time.  Felt more dumb. 

M took me to the next room to dilate my eyes and then while I was waiting for the dilation I went to the kids' playroom to hang out with Bryan and the kids.  I was telling all my woes to Bryan about M, and he was obviously bugged too.  L came in at that point to show me the ultrasound of my eye.  I took my chance and said, "Hey, do you think that M is competent?  Does she really know what she's doing?"  L assured me that she did, but she offered to take over for the rest of the appointment.  Hallelujah!  Yes!  Please!  So, for the next few tests/measurements, L and M were both there, along with Dr. Cionni at the end.

Dr. C said that I am a "perfect" ICL candidate.  I'm really happy about that.  And he promised me that on the day of surgery I'd be feeling fine (they give me Valium, or something like it, before the surgery.)  I feel kind of like a loser... they probably think I'm the crying, whiny, complaining patient.  But you know what?  I don't frankly care.  This is a big deal.  My vision is not something to dink around with, and if I don't feel comfortable with my care, I feel like I need to speak up!  And maybe cry a little!  (Just kidding, I wish I didn't cry...but I just can't help it sometimes.)

So my next appointment is with the optometrist here in Layton.  I'll keep posting about each part of this.  In the meantime, if you see me with my glasses and dorky wrap-around sunglass insert, just remember that I'm really a superhero.