What a busy 5 weeks

Forgive me purple folk for it is 5 weeks since my last blog.

what a lot has happened in the last 5 weeks.

My Aunt fell and broke her hip - not a nice experience for someone of 75ish. She was taken into hospital on the Monday and did not get operated on until the Wednesday - she had a pin put in as the break was below the hip joint. We were travelling down to Northhamptonshire for our Nephew's 18th birthday party, so we set off a day early so that we could call in to Birmingham to see Auntie. Thank goodness for Sat Nav - I dont think we would have found Heartlands Hospital without it! We stayed overnight with Mum and Dad which was nice, and it was great to see how Mum was improving.

The next day we travelled to Daventry where we were staying. The hotel was on a golf course, free internet, free coffee, free fruit, swimming pool, sauna, steam room & jacusi - and all for £50 including breakfast for the 2 of us!

The party was something else - I have never felt so old! It was actually our other nephew's 16th birthday on the day, so there were crowds of 16yr old and 18 yr olds! Most of them were hanging around outside the venue, until the music went louder and the lights went lower! We made our excuses by 10pm and went back to the hotel for a decent drink and an early night.

I have managed to play a fair amount of golf during the last few weeks - this has been good for me health wise as well as helping me to relax.

me and my pal Olive (her nickname) have booked for a trip to Stobo Castle on 22nd for 2 nights - she has been to the wedding of her son this weekend, so the two of us will enjoy the break.

So, last weekend whilst playing golf I was discussing the problems I had been having with my contact lenses and that I was considering the laser surgery. Her pal had had it done 2 1/2 years ago and had not looked back since. So I made an appointment to see if I was suitable. That was yesterday.

First I had to wear my glasses for at least 48 hours prior to the treatment - that is a struggle for me as I find it difficult to see with them on and feel very trapped when I wear them. The appointment started with the puff of air in the eye routine, then a check of the prescription. After this I had a chat with one of the girls who was very informative about the whole procedure and explained all the different options that MIGHT be available to me. Then followed the more rigourous tests. I had drops of anasthetic put in my eyes - stingy or what! Then she measured the thickness of my corneas using a probe against the eye - weird or what! Then she put some other drops in which relaxed my eye muscles so that I could not focus - I couldnt even see my watch! Finally she gave me the news that I was very suitable for the treatment, and I could have a choice of every option.

I decided that the Lasik method was preferred as it has the fastest healing time, and did not require a dressing on the cornea. then I had a choice of which method was used to cut the flap in the cornea to give the laser the required access. There is a mechanical method where a gadget is put against the eyeball and suckers onto it. Then this is rotated to cut a flap - a bit like taking the foil off a bottle of wine. The more modern method is to use the laser to cut the flap, a series of dots are made on the eye ball which causes bubbles under the cornea, then alcohol is put on which raises the flap for the surgeon to peel back. The downside of the mechanical method is that the incision is deeper and therefore takes longer to heal - so I decided on the Ultralase method.

The next decision was whether to have a standard treatment which basically gives you off the shelf laser treatment for a standard prescription. This gives you the vision you have with your lenses or glasses, but no better. The Wavefront option gives you a treatment that is specific to you. Your eyes are scanned and any inperfections are noted - these can give you problems with night vision - halos, glare etc when driving. I decided that I might as well go for the top treatment.

So the next stage was to book all the appointments. I have to go without lenses for 7 days before a further check with the optician in Stirling (again with the possibility of the relaxing drops so no driving), the following day I have to get the Wavefront scan in Glasgow, and the following day the surgery also in Glasgow! My pal also has a house in Glasgow, so I will be staying with her the night before and she will bring me home after surgery.

So all booked up after a 2 hour appointment - boy was I exhausted! I went to meet my pal who had driven me down as I knew that I would not be able to drive. She was in fits of laughter as I could not see a thing. Because my eyes were dilated I was suffering from the bright lights in the shopping mall, and I could not control the vision in them. Trying to read labels in M&S was impossible - so she had to read them to me!

I got home and could not turn the PC on as I knew that I would not be able to see it anyway.

This morning my eyes were still quite dilated, but I could put my contact lenses in and I can see - what freedom.

I am so pleased that I have made the decision, even though it is costing mega bucks, but Mum and Dad have offered me a huge sum towards it. I just look forward to being able to swim and use a spa without being worried about water getting into my eyes and lifting my lenses.

Played golf today - not brilliant, but happy with my game. Off to play at a different course tomorrow as a guest of a couple of male pals of mine.

Hopefully it will not be so long before my next blog.