I thought I'd provide my laundry list of questions I had for each of the doctors I spoke with. And yes, some questions are pretty girly. :) But it could help you start your list of questions if this is something you're considering.
- How long am I out of the ocean? (are you really surprised this was the first question out of my mouth?)
- Even after the 2-3 weeks after surgery, is the pressure at depth while diving something I need to worry about in the healing process?
- If I can't dive, can I do anything else for exercise? Like my hot Yoga class?
- Do I need to take time off work?
- How many surgeries have you performed?
- How many of those people needed vision "touch-ups" years later?
- How long have you been doing the lasik procedures?
- Do you provide other eye care solutions or are you solely a Lasik center?
- What's the healing process like?
- What's the number 1 mistake your patients make after surgery? Can it be fixed?
- I'm worried about blinking during surgery. How do you deal with that?
- What should I expect pain wise during and after surgery?
- What kind of anxiety medication do you use?
- What are the shower rules?
- How long till I can wear eye makeup?
- What about regular face makeup?
- When can I use my eyelash curler again? (I told you these were girly)
- How do I deal with morning eye crunchies? (hehe I was giggling as I asked that one)
- Is eye cream safe to use? (Damn you wrinkles!!!)
- How long can I milk the "getting taken care of because I just had surgery"? :D
- You said my eyes would feel dry the first few weeks after surgery. can I start taking my allergy meds again as needed?
- What's the probability of needing Lasik again, say in 10 years?
- I notice a lot of places offer a "Lifetime Insurance Policy" upgrade. Do I really need it? Why would you recommend it?
- If you could be any vegetable, what would you be and why? (just kidding, but I do think that's a really good indirect personality question on how someone sees themselves)
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Lasik Eye Surgery and Diving
I decided to take the leap. No time like January to avoid chilly night dives and 50 degree water temps to decide to be a land lubber for awhile. Who am I kidding? FIVE freaking weeks out of the water and it's KILLING ME. Did I mention I'm only on week 2? *sigh* But this is something I've wanted to do for ages and I finally decided to suck it up and take that step.
Side note. I dive with contact lenses, not a prescription mask. While those of you who have like a -1.00 nearsighted problem I have a whopping -5.50 nearsighted problem. Like coke bottle glasses. Sexy right? :D For all I know they don't make prescription masks that thick. So while the surface swim out might be fine for you, I might end up at the wrong decent point and maybe with the wrong buddy if I didn't have my contacts in. LOL And wearing a mask on the swim out through waves in southern California is just asking for you to give it up to the diving gods. I'm just saying. You know what was really awesome? Wearing contact lenses in the pool doing a no mask swim underwater for my Divemaster requirements. And by awesome, I mean not. :/
First and foremost, I'd like to be totally honest and let you know I'm completely freaked out.... I was a dummy and made the mistake of watching an eye surgery in action on a monitor at the doctors office.
Rule #1: Don't do that. HA
Rule #2: Do your research. I asked friends who had the surgery 2, 3, 5, and 10 years ago on who they used, what their experience was like, and how are their eyes now. I then took those doctors names and googled the hell out of them. Then met with them and interviewed them. It does also come down to who you personally feel comfortable with.
Rule #3: Ask questions. LOTS of them. ANYTHING you can think of. There is no dumb questions and if they act annoyed at your questions, I'd find a different doctor. Definitely ask about the difference of PRK and Custom Lasik and which options are best for you. Those are the main two but there is even more options than that. It matters, trust me. Custom Lasik is pretty standard now but PRK might be a better option for you depending on how thin your corneas are. PRK is more of a pain in the patootie because it requires more healing time. BUT it's key in the lasting effects of your surgery years down the line if you happen to have thinner corneas. Find out your options and ask WHY. :) My first immediate question was of course, how long am I out of the water??? 2-3 weeks after surgery to prevent infection. Ok fiiiiiiiiine. :( And of course I had a lot of girly questions regarding makeup and washing my face too but I'm sure that won't surprise you. :D)
Rule #4: As divers you know we are well versed in uh...antihistamines. LOL I especially have allergy and sinus issues. Guess what? Antihistamines dry the HELL out of your eyes not just your nasal canal and you need to lay off the meds before surgery. My eye scans were like night and day after I laid off the allergy meds for awhile. Side note, I look like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer right now since I've been banned from Claritin for a few weeks. :/ I'm telling myself sounding like a muppet is sexy.....Who's a smart girl and decided to pull the trigger on eye surgery right in the middle of cold and allergy season? This girl!!
Coolest thing they told me was the actual surgery only takes 10-15 minutes and I would be able to see IMMEDIATELY after. Sweet! And I have my super sexy after surgery glasses. I'll be modeling those babies later. :D Then they make you go home and go to sleep for 4 hours to help generate the first layer of cell growth.
I'm now in my waiting period. I have to stay out of my contacts for two weeks prior to surgery and then a week before, I have a twice a day vitamin and 4 times a day eye drop regimen to implement for optimal results. I'm so freaked out, I'm following every doctor order to the max. I even set up alarms in my phone to remind me to take the vitamins and put in the drops at different times in the day. I know, HUGE nerd alert. I'm cool with it. :) I have a week to go. My surgery date is Feb 2nd. I'll keep you posted. If you are considering Lasik I'll write another post soon on all my ridiculous questions so you have an idea on where to start with your question list. I'll have TONS of time to blab on and on about things since I can't be in the water.... Lucky you! :D
Oh yea and....
Rule #76: NO EXCUSES! Play like a champion! :D (Sorry couldn't help myself)
me and my red Rudolph nose with sexy coke bottle glasses and muppet voice are signing off for the night. xo
Side note. I dive with contact lenses, not a prescription mask. While those of you who have like a -1.00 nearsighted problem I have a whopping -5.50 nearsighted problem. Like coke bottle glasses. Sexy right? :D For all I know they don't make prescription masks that thick. So while the surface swim out might be fine for you, I might end up at the wrong decent point and maybe with the wrong buddy if I didn't have my contacts in. LOL And wearing a mask on the swim out through waves in southern California is just asking for you to give it up to the diving gods. I'm just saying. You know what was really awesome? Wearing contact lenses in the pool doing a no mask swim underwater for my Divemaster requirements. And by awesome, I mean not. :/
First and foremost, I'd like to be totally honest and let you know I'm completely freaked out.... I was a dummy and made the mistake of watching an eye surgery in action on a monitor at the doctors office.
Rule #1: Don't do that. HA
Rule #2: Do your research. I asked friends who had the surgery 2, 3, 5, and 10 years ago on who they used, what their experience was like, and how are their eyes now. I then took those doctors names and googled the hell out of them. Then met with them and interviewed them. It does also come down to who you personally feel comfortable with.
Rule #3: Ask questions. LOTS of them. ANYTHING you can think of. There is no dumb questions and if they act annoyed at your questions, I'd find a different doctor. Definitely ask about the difference of PRK and Custom Lasik and which options are best for you. Those are the main two but there is even more options than that. It matters, trust me. Custom Lasik is pretty standard now but PRK might be a better option for you depending on how thin your corneas are. PRK is more of a pain in the patootie because it requires more healing time. BUT it's key in the lasting effects of your surgery years down the line if you happen to have thinner corneas. Find out your options and ask WHY. :) My first immediate question was of course, how long am I out of the water??? 2-3 weeks after surgery to prevent infection. Ok fiiiiiiiiine. :( And of course I had a lot of girly questions regarding makeup and washing my face too but I'm sure that won't surprise you. :D)
Rule #4: As divers you know we are well versed in uh...antihistamines. LOL I especially have allergy and sinus issues. Guess what? Antihistamines dry the HELL out of your eyes not just your nasal canal and you need to lay off the meds before surgery. My eye scans were like night and day after I laid off the allergy meds for awhile. Side note, I look like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer right now since I've been banned from Claritin for a few weeks. :/ I'm telling myself sounding like a muppet is sexy.....Who's a smart girl and decided to pull the trigger on eye surgery right in the middle of cold and allergy season? This girl!!
Coolest thing they told me was the actual surgery only takes 10-15 minutes and I would be able to see IMMEDIATELY after. Sweet! And I have my super sexy after surgery glasses. I'll be modeling those babies later. :D Then they make you go home and go to sleep for 4 hours to help generate the first layer of cell growth.
I'm now in my waiting period. I have to stay out of my contacts for two weeks prior to surgery and then a week before, I have a twice a day vitamin and 4 times a day eye drop regimen to implement for optimal results. I'm so freaked out, I'm following every doctor order to the max. I even set up alarms in my phone to remind me to take the vitamins and put in the drops at different times in the day. I know, HUGE nerd alert. I'm cool with it. :) I have a week to go. My surgery date is Feb 2nd. I'll keep you posted. If you are considering Lasik I'll write another post soon on all my ridiculous questions so you have an idea on where to start with your question list. I'll have TONS of time to blab on and on about things since I can't be in the water.... Lucky you! :D
Oh yea and....
Rule #76: NO EXCUSES! Play like a champion! :D (Sorry couldn't help myself)
me and my red Rudolph nose with sexy coke bottle glasses and muppet voice are signing off for the night. xo
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Dive Report 1.10.12 La Jolla Shores
Dive Report for January 10, 2012
My first dive of the year!! And it was pure comedy. We had our annual Hammerhead Dive Meetup on Friday January 6th, the first Friday of the month as usual except the conditions were crappy. Big swells. So we met for some hot chocolate and rescheduled the night dive for Tuesday January 10th.
Divers: Erin, Lucas, Melissa, Heath, Fred, Bethy, Stephen, Kimo, Tyler and Jen
Location: La Jolla Shores
Conditions: 1-2 ft waves, easy kick out.Viz was 2ft at the decent, 15-25 feet at the canyon edge.
Report:
The general dive report is the conditions were calm and it was an easy kick out. We actually overshot the canyon and ended up dropping to 80 feet. Monitioring our computers, we kept it a slow, safe decent in about 2 feet of visability then took a heading and made it up to the wall where the viz cleared up nicely to 15 feet, even up to 25 feet in pockets. With effective underwater communication, two of our divers aborted due to certain difficulties, and we linked up as a buddy group rather than pairs. We had a nice slow "photography" dive along the wall till our 1200 psi safety turn around point. Saw the usual critters out about, a camo octopus, numerous sarcastic fringeheads, spiny lobster, kelp crab, sheephead crab, cusk eels, and sting rays galore. Not the stellar conditions we had been spoiled with at the shores lately, but still a really great dive in the new year!
1.10.12 La Jolla Shores Night Dive
Now the nitty gritty details...
Due to winters colds and the holiday season, this was my first dive back in the water since mid December. And I was excited. Maybe too excited. LOL We are also in the middle of a floor remodel which means the house is in disarray. More specifically the garage is in disarray... where our dive gear is. So I partly blame this on the remodel and things being out of place and partly blame me being out of my weekly dive routine. Bottom line I got to the shores, geared up, went to set up my tank... and realized I forgot my regulator. Yes that key element to help you LIVE underwater, BREATHE underwater...was not in my car. Seriously? So embarrassing. Luckily I only live about 7 minutes away. I snuck away, sped home, grabbed my reg and raced back to the shores to pull up to the majority of the crew standing there lined up ready to to make fun of me. Awesome. LOL I would have felt completely embarrassed if a certain someone else didn't forget their camera and also ran home, or certain someone else didn't leave their mask on top of their car and I had to go chasing after them while they were at the waters edge, or if a certain someone else's mask strap didn't break at decent and had to swim back in real quick to borrow another, or regulator wasn't leaky and ended up free flowing too much air as they were decending and their dive was aborted, or that someone else couldn't equalize and had to abort. Or if we didn't overshoot the canyon and dropped to 80 feet. Or if we had someone who has never descended in low viz like it was and that deep and had some minor panic feelings underwater...
So some might say why didn't you just abort the dive completely with all this going wrong? Well bottom line, we had good dive buddies that were prepared for each event that went wrong. And all that went wrong simply became a minor technicality we dealt with as it happened in a cool, calm, collective manner. We handled it and moved on with our dive. Could there have been something we could have done differently? Sure. Could it have gone much much worse if we didn't have the trained level headed divers that we did. Yes. Were we level headed and smart and still had a great dive? Yes! Dive within your limits. And continue your education. Even if it just tagging along with your favorite instructor during one of their classes to keep your key dive skills sharp. (My personal favorite is helping in a Rescue class!) And most importantly learn from each dive and don't take anything for granted. Happy and SAFE diving to you all!
My first dive of the year!! And it was pure comedy. We had our annual Hammerhead Dive Meetup on Friday January 6th, the first Friday of the month as usual except the conditions were crappy. Big swells. So we met for some hot chocolate and rescheduled the night dive for Tuesday January 10th.
Divers: Erin, Lucas, Melissa, Heath, Fred, Bethy, Stephen, Kimo, Tyler and Jen
Location: La Jolla Shores
Conditions: 1-2 ft waves, easy kick out.Viz was 2ft at the decent, 15-25 feet at the canyon edge.
Report:
The general dive report is the conditions were calm and it was an easy kick out. We actually overshot the canyon and ended up dropping to 80 feet. Monitioring our computers, we kept it a slow, safe decent in about 2 feet of visability then took a heading and made it up to the wall where the viz cleared up nicely to 15 feet, even up to 25 feet in pockets. With effective underwater communication, two of our divers aborted due to certain difficulties, and we linked up as a buddy group rather than pairs. We had a nice slow "photography" dive along the wall till our 1200 psi safety turn around point. Saw the usual critters out about, a camo octopus, numerous sarcastic fringeheads, spiny lobster, kelp crab, sheephead crab, cusk eels, and sting rays galore. Not the stellar conditions we had been spoiled with at the shores lately, but still a really great dive in the new year!
1.10.12 La Jolla Shores Night Dive
Now the nitty gritty details...
Due to winters colds and the holiday season, this was my first dive back in the water since mid December. And I was excited. Maybe too excited. LOL We are also in the middle of a floor remodel which means the house is in disarray. More specifically the garage is in disarray... where our dive gear is. So I partly blame this on the remodel and things being out of place and partly blame me being out of my weekly dive routine. Bottom line I got to the shores, geared up, went to set up my tank... and realized I forgot my regulator. Yes that key element to help you LIVE underwater, BREATHE underwater...was not in my car. Seriously? So embarrassing. Luckily I only live about 7 minutes away. I snuck away, sped home, grabbed my reg and raced back to the shores to pull up to the majority of the crew standing there lined up ready to to make fun of me. Awesome. LOL I would have felt completely embarrassed if a certain someone else didn't forget their camera and also ran home, or certain someone else didn't leave their mask on top of their car and I had to go chasing after them while they were at the waters edge, or if a certain someone else's mask strap didn't break at decent and had to swim back in real quick to borrow another, or regulator wasn't leaky and ended up free flowing too much air as they were decending and their dive was aborted, or that someone else couldn't equalize and had to abort. Or if we didn't overshoot the canyon and dropped to 80 feet. Or if we had someone who has never descended in low viz like it was and that deep and had some minor panic feelings underwater...
So some might say why didn't you just abort the dive completely with all this going wrong? Well bottom line, we had good dive buddies that were prepared for each event that went wrong. And all that went wrong simply became a minor technicality we dealt with as it happened in a cool, calm, collective manner. We handled it and moved on with our dive. Could there have been something we could have done differently? Sure. Could it have gone much much worse if we didn't have the trained level headed divers that we did. Yes. Were we level headed and smart and still had a great dive? Yes! Dive within your limits. And continue your education. Even if it just tagging along with your favorite instructor during one of their classes to keep your key dive skills sharp. (My personal favorite is helping in a Rescue class!) And most importantly learn from each dive and don't take anything for granted. Happy and SAFE diving to you all!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Diving = Love
I've known since I was 12 I had a passion for photography. But it wasn't until I was 27 I discovered my passion for scuba diving. Something incredible and serene about being in this other underwater world. As soon as I had my bearings and buoyancy, I combined my two passions. So here I am an incredibly obsessed, girly, underwater photographer and diving enthusiast. I'm by no means a pro underwater photographer. I just LOVE it. And I want to share it with anyone who wants to look, listen and learn! I'll talk your ear off on every single experience I go through, embarrassing, and exciting because I think it's that awesome. I've met the most incredible people in the dive community and if there's one thing I've learned is that you can only become a better diver by learning from yourself and others.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)