It is almost 9 weeks since I had the LASEK surgery done. This visit was with the same doctor who performed my surgery. The best news I ever heard….my epithelium has finally healed! Now on the less than great news is the corneal haze on both eyes. Left eye has slight haze (I’m guessing probably grade 0.5 to 1) while my right eye had a grade 2 haze. I believe the main reason is because I stopped the dexamethasone (steroid) eye drops in order to speed up the healing process after the bandage contact lens, which remained on my eyes for 5 weeks (way longer than recommended) and not even replaced once. Anyways, I was advised to increase the dexamethasone use on my right to 4 times a day and the left eye remained at 3 times day because there was an increase in its pressure. This is a well known side effect of extended steroidal use (and I’m assuming 9 weeks is extended). So they will monitor my eye pressure after 2 weeks, and as usual, my doctor is on leave, so I will have to see another doctor, and a totally new one at that. The doctors I all know are on leave (and I know three!). It’s somewhat understandable, since it is the week post-Eid.
My next appointment is on the 6th of Sept. I am hoping there would be some reduction in the haze (even though online sources say 6 months for haze to disappear, sometimes 1 year).
Thursday, August 25, 2011
24 Years on this Earth
Today is my birthday, and I hit 24 years now. I had to come up with an idea to make it slightly different and more interesting than previous ones. The previous plans have always been go to a fancy restaurant and have everyone else pay but the birthday boy. Since it is still Ramadan, I found that eating out for Futoor or Suhoor is not as interesting nor enjoyable as eating back home. I have no idea how this idea came to fruition, but it was decided that I will have my friends meet up at my place where we will cook a three-course meal; with each person taking care of appteizers, main or dessert.
It was decided that we would have two flavors of buffalo wings for appetizers, cooked by no less than the buffalo wing aficionado! Both flavors were really interesting and good, and perhaps better than most (if not all) wings I had in the UAE. Kudos for home-made buffalo wings! The flavor rating for those wings would be 10 out of 10. However, when it came to skill and technique I would give it a 5 out of 10 mainly cause it was simply coated wings that were deepfried, and the sauces were mostly readymade. The negative points were presentation and the fact that there weren’t enough wings to indulge in. Perhaps we should do a buffalo wings indulgence night where we go all out next time.
Next was the main course, which I made. I initially thought of doing gnocchi with a cream sauce. I changed my mind when I knew that making spherical potato pasta pieces would end in failure where the size of each ball would be so different and perhaps not so spherical. I decided to make Okonomiyaki instead, a Japanese pancake/pizza. The ingredients were interesting as it had a lot of cabbage in it (and to my surprise, raw cabbage tasted good as it was slightly sweet and oh-so crisp). Given that this was a Japanese recipe and my track record of always missing the mark when it came to Asian cuisine, it was a partial success (the partial part to come soon).
I made two okonomiyakis. The first one I served to my brother and myself, and the second one (which was a lot thicker and, ehm, undercooked in the center) was served to my two friends & chefs who made the appetizer and dessert. So my okonomiyaki was a success, crispy, cooked and topped with a mixture you can never go wrong with (mayo and Worcestershire/ketchup/soy sauce blend). My brother said that it tasted exactly like the typical refreshment restaurants (a.k.a. Murattabaat) all over the city due to the ketcup/mayo mix. The failed okonomiyaki (which I only knew about on a later date) was somewhat raw and doughy in the middle. However, given that the ingredients are relatively safe eaten raw, I didn’t feel so bad.
Last was the epic Raspberry Cheesecake made by the Mustang-fan with desert Machboos cooking experience and absolutely no dessert experience. The first step of the recipe was a mess, since the butter in the microwave exploded, and splattered all over inside. We had to clean a buttery microwave before even starting the recipe. Next was making the crust. We stuck to old stone-age techniques of hand crushing Digestive biscuits to a fine powder. It took around an entire hour for this step. Now to make matters worse the only pan I had with removable edges was donut shaped, too large and had inside indents on its bottom. We only had enough crust to fill half of the pan and used paper and tape to close the edges. Next was the cheesecake mix, which was too sloppy and did not hold well, but tasted really good.
So how would I rate the cheesecake? Flavor is a 10 out of 10. Initial presentation (if you give a blind eye to the unused half part of the pan) is also a 10 out of 10. However, when the cake was served in plates, presentation falls to 3 out of 10 as everything began muddled. In the end, it was a machboos-like dessert.
We watched a Korean series called “Coma” which is best described as a creepy/thriller series (1 hour episodes, each independent and a total of 6 episodes). We later watched a couple of episodes of Slam Dunk for laughs and the night ended. I was now 24 years old, stuffed with food, and had a kitchen full of a mess. I couldn’t go to sleep with a messy kitchen so I proceeded to clean the kitchen, and only after about an hour did I go to bed. Best part was the next day I didn’t have work since I had an appointment at 10AM in Dubai to follow up on the healing of my eyes. However, this meant leaving at 8 AM to go to Dubai (even though I wouldn’t be driving).
It was decided that we would have two flavors of buffalo wings for appetizers, cooked by no less than the buffalo wing aficionado! Both flavors were really interesting and good, and perhaps better than most (if not all) wings I had in the UAE. Kudos for home-made buffalo wings! The flavor rating for those wings would be 10 out of 10. However, when it came to skill and technique I would give it a 5 out of 10 mainly cause it was simply coated wings that were deepfried, and the sauces were mostly readymade. The negative points were presentation and the fact that there weren’t enough wings to indulge in. Perhaps we should do a buffalo wings indulgence night where we go all out next time.
Next was the main course, which I made. I initially thought of doing gnocchi with a cream sauce. I changed my mind when I knew that making spherical potato pasta pieces would end in failure where the size of each ball would be so different and perhaps not so spherical. I decided to make Okonomiyaki instead, a Japanese pancake/pizza. The ingredients were interesting as it had a lot of cabbage in it (and to my surprise, raw cabbage tasted good as it was slightly sweet and oh-so crisp). Given that this was a Japanese recipe and my track record of always missing the mark when it came to Asian cuisine, it was a partial success (the partial part to come soon).
I made two okonomiyakis. The first one I served to my brother and myself, and the second one (which was a lot thicker and, ehm, undercooked in the center) was served to my two friends & chefs who made the appetizer and dessert. So my okonomiyaki was a success, crispy, cooked and topped with a mixture you can never go wrong with (mayo and Worcestershire/ketchup/soy sauce blend). My brother said that it tasted exactly like the typical refreshment restaurants (a.k.a. Murattabaat) all over the city due to the ketcup/mayo mix. The failed okonomiyaki (which I only knew about on a later date) was somewhat raw and doughy in the middle. However, given that the ingredients are relatively safe eaten raw, I didn’t feel so bad.
Last was the epic Raspberry Cheesecake made by the Mustang-fan with desert Machboos cooking experience and absolutely no dessert experience. The first step of the recipe was a mess, since the butter in the microwave exploded, and splattered all over inside. We had to clean a buttery microwave before even starting the recipe. Next was making the crust. We stuck to old stone-age techniques of hand crushing Digestive biscuits to a fine powder. It took around an entire hour for this step. Now to make matters worse the only pan I had with removable edges was donut shaped, too large and had inside indents on its bottom. We only had enough crust to fill half of the pan and used paper and tape to close the edges. Next was the cheesecake mix, which was too sloppy and did not hold well, but tasted really good.
So how would I rate the cheesecake? Flavor is a 10 out of 10. Initial presentation (if you give a blind eye to the unused half part of the pan) is also a 10 out of 10. However, when the cake was served in plates, presentation falls to 3 out of 10 as everything began muddled. In the end, it was a machboos-like dessert.
We watched a Korean series called “Coma” which is best described as a creepy/thriller series (1 hour episodes, each independent and a total of 6 episodes). We later watched a couple of episodes of Slam Dunk for laughs and the night ended. I was now 24 years old, stuffed with food, and had a kitchen full of a mess. I couldn’t go to sleep with a messy kitchen so I proceeded to clean the kitchen, and only after about an hour did I go to bed. Best part was the next day I didn’t have work since I had an appointment at 10AM in Dubai to follow up on the healing of my eyes. However, this meant leaving at 8 AM to go to Dubai (even though I wouldn’t be driving).
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Day 57 Post-Op (Aug 16)
So much has happened over the past 2 weeks. While it’s a mixture of good and bad stuff, it would make more sense if I start with the day when everything changed. Rewind back a week to the 8th of August…
It’s the 8th of August and I head to the ICLDC in Abu Dhabi for yet another follow up to remove the bandage contact lens that have been stuck in my eyes for exactly 5 weeks. Over the past 5 weeks when the contact lens was in my eyes, my epithelium was healing at an incredibly slow speed. While I used to follow up on a weekly basis, the doctor recommended I see him after a 2 week interval (which turned to 3 weeks since he was on leave). To my shock, during this entire 3 week period there was absolutely no progress. He told me the epithelium stopped healing and recommended I see the doctor in Dubai who did the surgery for me.
I had to take the day off and have someone drive me to Dubai (my eyes over the past week had increased sensitivity to light and got worse, especially in bright areas). The doctor in Dubai was performing surgeries this day, but they fit me in. He was shocked that I had the contact lens over a 5 week period (heck, even the nurse gasped when she heard 5 weeks). He informed me that they should have at least replaced it on a weekly basis to give the epithelium a chance to breathe and prevent it from ‘sticking’ to my eyes. He removed the bandage contact lens, stopped the dexamethasone steroid eye drops (Maxidex), and replaced my entire medication with newer ones.
I now started using preservative free Minims® Chloramphenicol 0.5% antibiotic eye drops every 6 hours, Artelac preservative free artificial tears every hour and a Chloramphenicol ointment that I put inside my eye lids at night before going to bed. I also had to keep following up with the doctor every 3 days to ensure everything is going well.
When the bandage contact lens were removed, both eyes felt somewhat raw (although my left eye felt very raw and had poorer vision). By night, both eyes were doing well, but not as good as with the contact lens. The next morning things turned 180 degrees, and both eyes were bad! In fact, they were so bad that I tried driving in the morning and freaked out within a matter of seconds because I literally could not see anything. I had to take the day off (eventually the entire week) as my eyes were back to healing again.
Three days later, I follow up with another doctor in Dubai (since the doctor who performed my surgery was on leave) and informed me that the epithelium is healing well and that the left eye has less than 0.1mm remaining (right eye had 1.3mm remaining). My right eye was always bad, but I was somewhat happy with the good news.
Three further more days later (6 days after bandage contact lens were removed) My left eye is almost completely healed and the right eye was around 0.2 mm remaining. However, since I stopped the steroid drops (which stunned the healing) there was some minor formation of corneal haze. Not the greatest news since haze takes 3-6 months (sometimes a year) to be completely gone from what I understand (if not treated with meds). So the doctor decided to put me back on Maxidex dexamethasone drops (the steroid eye drops) which should treat the haze. So I’m back to slower healing rates, and side effects of increased light sensitivity and blurred vision (but all for a good reason). He told me to reduce the Artelac artificial tears to every 2 hours and come back a week later, to see my favorite doctor (same guy who did my surgery) so he can closely monitor me again (it will be his first day back).
So today is the 16th of August….21st is my appointment day. Can’t wait to see things improve.
On a side note, during my last follow up in Dubai I got a flat tire on the way there and had to get it replaced near a gas station (thank god nothing serious happened). So yesterday I replaced all my tires with all-new 2011 Dunlop ones for AED 2550 (same type that came from the Lexus dealership) which are known for their quietness (and new tires feel nicer to drive on as they are quieter and have better grip). Since it was Ramadan, it meant driving at night (something I have not done since I did the Surgery…..so we’re talking almost 2 months. Driving was not ideal. At times I could not see people crossing the roads and it was difficult measuring the correct distance between the car in front of me.
Here is the funny part. Got tires replaced at night (11PM), went to the newly opened Mushrif Mall to buy a humidifier for my room but the Sharaf DG there has not yet opened, and the LuLu there had ridiculously large and expensive humidifiers. Next I went to Abu Dhabi Mall (again, driving at night was very unpleasant and unsafe but I just went with the flow) and the Sharaf DG there also had another ridiculous large expensive humidifier. As a last resort I went to Abu Dhabi Coop and luckily I found what I needed (a cute green panda-shaped humidifier with a 3 liter capacity/10 hours meant for kids which releases a cool mist from the panda’s ears which can be directed by turning his head. I finally got what I needed, went back home only to find it was 1:15AM. I had work tomorrow, I wake up for Suhoor at 3:50 AM and was starving.
I raid the fridge, gulping down an “Evens” ice cream sandwich and a Quanta ice cream (vanilla coated with chocolate). I then go and make myself a large mug of Horlicks, stuffed with 5 mega teaspoonfuls of Horlicks, 2 teaspoons of sugar and low fat milk, nuked in the microwave till hot, and stirred to perfection. It was almost 2AM. I really needed to sleep….
Today is the day after the night where I drove. 2 months and barely able to drive at night (but noticing improvements very slowly). Since things are getting better from now, all it takes is patience (I am approximating 6 months for good vision, 1 year for great vision).
It’s the 8th of August and I head to the ICLDC in Abu Dhabi for yet another follow up to remove the bandage contact lens that have been stuck in my eyes for exactly 5 weeks. Over the past 5 weeks when the contact lens was in my eyes, my epithelium was healing at an incredibly slow speed. While I used to follow up on a weekly basis, the doctor recommended I see him after a 2 week interval (which turned to 3 weeks since he was on leave). To my shock, during this entire 3 week period there was absolutely no progress. He told me the epithelium stopped healing and recommended I see the doctor in Dubai who did the surgery for me.
I had to take the day off and have someone drive me to Dubai (my eyes over the past week had increased sensitivity to light and got worse, especially in bright areas). The doctor in Dubai was performing surgeries this day, but they fit me in. He was shocked that I had the contact lens over a 5 week period (heck, even the nurse gasped when she heard 5 weeks). He informed me that they should have at least replaced it on a weekly basis to give the epithelium a chance to breathe and prevent it from ‘sticking’ to my eyes. He removed the bandage contact lens, stopped the dexamethasone steroid eye drops (Maxidex), and replaced my entire medication with newer ones.
I now started using preservative free Minims® Chloramphenicol 0.5% antibiotic eye drops every 6 hours, Artelac preservative free artificial tears every hour and a Chloramphenicol ointment that I put inside my eye lids at night before going to bed. I also had to keep following up with the doctor every 3 days to ensure everything is going well.
When the bandage contact lens were removed, both eyes felt somewhat raw (although my left eye felt very raw and had poorer vision). By night, both eyes were doing well, but not as good as with the contact lens. The next morning things turned 180 degrees, and both eyes were bad! In fact, they were so bad that I tried driving in the morning and freaked out within a matter of seconds because I literally could not see anything. I had to take the day off (eventually the entire week) as my eyes were back to healing again.
Three days later, I follow up with another doctor in Dubai (since the doctor who performed my surgery was on leave) and informed me that the epithelium is healing well and that the left eye has less than 0.1mm remaining (right eye had 1.3mm remaining). My right eye was always bad, but I was somewhat happy with the good news.
Three further more days later (6 days after bandage contact lens were removed) My left eye is almost completely healed and the right eye was around 0.2 mm remaining. However, since I stopped the steroid drops (which stunned the healing) there was some minor formation of corneal haze. Not the greatest news since haze takes 3-6 months (sometimes a year) to be completely gone from what I understand (if not treated with meds). So the doctor decided to put me back on Maxidex dexamethasone drops (the steroid eye drops) which should treat the haze. So I’m back to slower healing rates, and side effects of increased light sensitivity and blurred vision (but all for a good reason). He told me to reduce the Artelac artificial tears to every 2 hours and come back a week later, to see my favorite doctor (same guy who did my surgery) so he can closely monitor me again (it will be his first day back).
So today is the 16th of August….21st is my appointment day. Can’t wait to see things improve.
On a side note, during my last follow up in Dubai I got a flat tire on the way there and had to get it replaced near a gas station (thank god nothing serious happened). So yesterday I replaced all my tires with all-new 2011 Dunlop ones for AED 2550 (same type that came from the Lexus dealership) which are known for their quietness (and new tires feel nicer to drive on as they are quieter and have better grip). Since it was Ramadan, it meant driving at night (something I have not done since I did the Surgery…..so we’re talking almost 2 months. Driving was not ideal. At times I could not see people crossing the roads and it was difficult measuring the correct distance between the car in front of me.
Here is the funny part. Got tires replaced at night (11PM), went to the newly opened Mushrif Mall to buy a humidifier for my room but the Sharaf DG there has not yet opened, and the LuLu there had ridiculously large and expensive humidifiers. Next I went to Abu Dhabi Mall (again, driving at night was very unpleasant and unsafe but I just went with the flow) and the Sharaf DG there also had another ridiculous large expensive humidifier. As a last resort I went to Abu Dhabi Coop and luckily I found what I needed (a cute green panda-shaped humidifier with a 3 liter capacity/10 hours meant for kids which releases a cool mist from the panda’s ears which can be directed by turning his head. I finally got what I needed, went back home only to find it was 1:15AM. I had work tomorrow, I wake up for Suhoor at 3:50 AM and was starving.
I raid the fridge, gulping down an “Evens” ice cream sandwich and a Quanta ice cream (vanilla coated with chocolate). I then go and make myself a large mug of Horlicks, stuffed with 5 mega teaspoonfuls of Horlicks, 2 teaspoons of sugar and low fat milk, nuked in the microwave till hot, and stirred to perfection. It was almost 2AM. I really needed to sleep….
Today is the day after the night where I drove. 2 months and barely able to drive at night (but noticing improvements very slowly). Since things are getting better from now, all it takes is patience (I am approximating 6 months for good vision, 1 year for great vision).
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Day 44 Post-Op (Aug 3)
Since it is Ramadan and I am less hydrated during the day, I have noticed that whenever I wake up from sleep my eyes are dry and I need to hydrate them using eye drops. I currently nap 3 times a day. First is after suhoor (from 5am to 8:30am), next is after work (4pm to 6pm) and then at night (11pm to 4am). After each of these naps I have to place hydrating eyedrops, especially since I still have the bandage contact lens in my eyes. I am currently due next Monday to get them removed and I just can’t wait. Once removed, I no longer have to tape an eye guard on my face every time I want to sleep, nor do I have to take extra caution in preventing water/shampoo from entering my eyes while taking a shower (and I also imagine I will not have to use hydrating eye drops as often). Actually, I didn’t use the hydrating drops before Ramadan, so I believe I am doing well in terms of having no side-effects (apart from the extremely long healing process).
Ramadan is here!
Ramadan has finally arrived, bearing with it many gifts and realizations. The first gift is the return of a friend from a far away country. The next is the realization that I have gained so much weight over the past couple of months that I finally started to get back to my exercise routine & watching what I eat. The change is pretty big when you consider that my BMI changed from “normal” to “overweight” (From 23.8 to 27.1), I gained around 10kg and I can no longer fit into my old jeans and had to buy new ones. As a friend put it, I am officially a fatso.
Now the good news is over the past couple of days I’ve been eating more reasonably, and yesterday was my first day of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). It consists of 14 minutes of cardio exercise, alternating between 2 minutes of low intensity cardio followed by 1 minute of high intensity cardio, making my heartbeat reach over 170 beats per minute after the high intensity portion. There has been considerable research on HIIT showing that it helps shed fat for the next 36 hours or so after the exercise has been completed (unlike steady state cardio such as a simple jog or walk over a 30-90 minute period). While the machine will probably show that you burn more calories with steady state the overall effect is more positive with HIIT. It takes less time, stresses your body more (challenging it to its limits), actually builds muscle and makes your body more toned. So why spend 30-90 minutes on a boring treadmill when you can do 14 minutes of intense exercise?
Now the good news is over the past couple of days I’ve been eating more reasonably, and yesterday was my first day of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). It consists of 14 minutes of cardio exercise, alternating between 2 minutes of low intensity cardio followed by 1 minute of high intensity cardio, making my heartbeat reach over 170 beats per minute after the high intensity portion. There has been considerable research on HIIT showing that it helps shed fat for the next 36 hours or so after the exercise has been completed (unlike steady state cardio such as a simple jog or walk over a 30-90 minute period). While the machine will probably show that you burn more calories with steady state the overall effect is more positive with HIIT. It takes less time, stresses your body more (challenging it to its limits), actually builds muscle and makes your body more toned. So why spend 30-90 minutes on a boring treadmill when you can do 14 minutes of intense exercise?
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