Vision got worse

It's been a year now since I did LASEK and Corneal Cross-Linking.

Vision got worse:
RE +8.50/-1.75 x 85
LE +2.75/-0.00 x 0

Both eyes have severe corneal haze and extend through all layers (very deep)
Eyes are too flat now.

• RGP lenses always slide so not a viable option
• Hybrid Lenses don't work because eyes are too flat.
• Kerasoft contacts should be OK, but vision is still poor with them due to change of RE from +6 to +8.5 and left eye 
• Eyeglasses provide mediocre vision and must be at a stable non-moving environment, such as a desk

1 year and still hanging on.

Vision Simulation

I found an interesting site: http://www.visionsimulations.com/
I used it to show how I see the world.  My right eye is by far a lot worse but I tried to approximate things to give an overall idea.   All images have a perfect vision vs my vision for comparison.


In ideal conditions, my left eye sees the clarity as shown below.

Ghostig Effect.  Right eye is 4 times as worse as the example shown (instead ofjust one ghost, I see 4 or 5 ghosts).  My left eye compenates and makes things better.

Another example of ghosting.  If I stress the muscles in my eyes I can achieve better vision.  Again, right eye is a loooooot worse than what you see.

Glare when there is a lot of light in the background.  Three images attached depending on how much light is coming from the windows.

Halo effect that makes me think this is how the light is actually seen by most people...when in fact it's not.

When I drive when it's sunny, things get a lot clearer.  In dim places, the negative effects of my vision are a lot more obvious like in the example below.

Driving at night is a nightmare.  Starburst from cars is painful.  The starbursts prevent me from seeing anything else.

As you can see I'm really placing my hopes on contact lenses.  Glasses don't help much with these problems.  Contacts almost take it all away.  I just have to be patient to get them to fit right.

Peace.

Still unable to wear contacts...

It's been months since I decided to go ahead with wearing RGP lenses.  After going through the fitting experience and finally placing the order I was informed my pair arrived!  Contacts, specially made for me, have arrived!  The promise of perfect vision is finally within my grasp.

I head to Dubai with my wife filled with excitement (wait...did I mention I recently came back from my Honeymoon after getting married?) and finally get to try on these expensive lenses.  The lens specialist places the lenses in my eyes, and after minutes of teary eyes and discomfort, things are not clear!  Apparently the lens diameter was not big enough and lens was sliding in my eyes (did not remain in the center).  Solution?  Send them back and get ones with larger diameters.

On the good news, hybrid lenses are now available and the lens specialist ordered trials to try them.  Due to my busy schedule and just getting back to work, the nearest appointment where I could make it was 3 weeks later.

Still hanging in there, hoping things will get better.

RGP Lenses ordered!

Vision is stable (still poor).
Eye shape is stable (flat).
Corneal haze still exists and is expected to reduce in time.
Cause of stromal tissue loss is still unknown - reason they believe is delayed epithelial healing which prolonged the exposure of the stroma.  Scar tissue has replaced the lost tissue.  Infection was never a cause and never occured.

Got RGP lenses ordered which will arrive in 4 weeks time.   Vision with these is awesome.  No haze, ghosting etc..  Adjusting period is required cause it feels like there's a hair in my eye when i wear them (especially first 10 minutes).

Hope exists.  Vision can be corrected with more conservative measures.  Time to live life.  No obsessing, no worrying.  Life smacked me in the face.  It's time to smack back and say "I will live my life, a happy life"

Day 227 Post-Op (Feb. 02, 2012)

Wow.  227 days.  It really has been such a long time.  Almost 8 months now.

I have a follow up appointment on the 8th of February.  Hoping my eyes have a better curvature (less flatter) and can actually manage with the trial RGP lenses.

Look forward to the appointment results.  Fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

Dec 26 2011, Lens Fitting Appointment

Yesterday I went for my lens fitting appointment.  I took a day off work since it was mid-week, drove for 1.5 hours as usual to the eye hospital and sat there in the waiting room expecting so many good things to come.  It seems like all I got was a smack in the face with everything going exactly the opposite to my expectations.

At first they were going to fit me with soft contact lenses.  That threw me off, as the appointment was for hybrid lens fitting.  I had to clearly explain to them that we tried soft contact lens fitting a week ago and the results were not satisfactory.  After this clarification they took me to another doctor who specializes in these fittings as opposed to the regular optometrist.

The doctor informed me that she will fit me with RGP lenses.  What?  I thought I was getting a hybrid lens fitting as my main doctor directed, to which I was informed that they no longer provide hybrid lenses since 2 years ago since the manufacturer no longer distributes to the Middle East region due to quality issues in the shipments.  OK....then why give false hope and tell me I will be fitted with hybrids when you don't have them!  After this hiccup I tried to calm myself down and said to myself "nothing wrong with RGPs, might as well try them".

As the doctor inserted the RGP lens into my eye it felt like I had a loose hair stuck inside.  She informed me that this is typical as the eyes are reacting to a foreign object.  I kept my eyes closed for a while till I could open it.  Vision was good, but not yet perfect.  Also, things kept on shifting from clear to blurry constantly, changing with each blink.  She told me my eyes were too flat and they don't have trial lenses for my curvature and she was using both contacts and glasses on me to get the right fitting.  I don't know why but this felt like a mechanic doing dentistry work.  I felt very uncomfortable as this is not how a high quality hospital should do things.

She went through various lenses and did various eye tests where she places colored drops in the eye and looks at the lens using a blue light (to make sure the lens is sitting correctly on the cornea).  However, since they don't have the right lens for my eyes, and she said she can't even order trial ones for tests, I can order the actual ones and use the one-time replacement warranty that comes with it to get a better fit later.  Oh, and she also mentioned the fact that my curvature has changed over the past two months (from 9 to 10 or something like that) and that my curvature could change again. 

Ordering lenses takes 4-5 weeks....which means by the time they arrive my curvature could have changed, and the RGP lenses will be a poor fit which I believe can damage/scratch my eyes due to being too tightly fit.  Why all the hassle, driving multiple times to see the doctor, poorly fit contacts, probable damage to my cornea, wasted time and money.....for the time being contacts seem like a horrible choice.  Although I have to mention that the clarity of my vision with contacts was great since lots of the haze issue is solved (still not perfect though).

Conlusion: Wait for eyes to heal, haze to disappear and let my eyes heal naturally.  I will not rush it and hope for a better long term as a result of letting the miracle of the human body regenerate itself and heal.

Dec 17, 2011 appointment

Slightly good news, as I have observed the following changes from the medical report:

Left eye went from +2.25 to +1.75, although has Grade 2 haze

Right eye went from +6.00/-2.00 to +5.75/-1.50, with Grade 2 haze

Haze is expected to disappear with time, doctor is approximating 6 months from now....so will have to see how things are in June 2012 (which will be 1 year after the surgery).

I inquired on what caused this issue and why I was unfortunate.  

• Was it the surgery itself that went bad? 
• Was it because the bandage contact lens was removed at day 5 while the epithelium has not healed completely?
• Was it because the bandage contact lens was reinserted at day 9 and kept in my eyes for a period of 5 weeks without being replaced once?
• Was it just my body that did not have the capability of regrowing epithelium at the typical expected rate?
• Or was it something else I have not considered?

Doctor's response was that I was unfortunate, and the delay in epithelium healing (which took me 2 months to have heal completely, while the average is 5-9 days) had my eyes exposed which lead to tissue loss (even though not a single follow up appointment mentioned that I suffered from an infection, so what cause the tissue loss is strange, even though they tell me at my 4 month post op appointment that there was tissue loss due to an infection....which was the first time they mention infection and they talk about it in the past?!).  To be honest, I'm not convinced with this generic statement from the doctor...

Doctor is expecting in a 6 month time left eye can reach +0.75 and left eye +3.00

I have an appointment on the 26th of Dec for a fitting for hybrid contact lens (the center is RGP with a soft skirt for extra comfort).  Look up SynergEyes for more details on what hybrid contact lens are.  I can't wear regular contacts because the center of my eye suffered tissue loss, and a soft contact cannot hold its shape with a hole in the center of my eyes.  Regular RGP contacts are not known for best comfort, so hopefully hybrid contacts can be a good solution as the haze clears from my eyes.

All I have to do is wait and believe.

Although I don't have closure yet as I don't really understand what went wrong.

Slight improvement?

I have an appointment on the 17th of Dec.  In the meantime, I feel as if the vision in my eyes is getting slightly better, perhaps due to the clearing of the hazing or hopefully because the cells in the cornea are growing back.  No exact way to know until then.  The reading glasses made work, reading and computer use a lot more bearable but I still wish one day I can do so without glasses.

I will be updating the blog with another post in around 20 days or so, around the same time of my next appointment.

Hope rises from the ashes

I will get my new prescription eyeglasses today.  It will take a couple of days till they are made.  Hoping for the best and a brighter future.  There's always tomorrow, and I'm still alive to see it through.

4 months - Moment of Regret

I have never felt regret during the LASEK process like today.  During the 5-week period where the bandage contact lens were in my eyes during the first month after the surgery, I suffered tissue loss on the stromal section of the cornea.  This means my right eye may never see clear again.  The doctor believes corneal tissue may grow and fill that gap up.  He only knew that after taking a full corneal scan of my eye, the first since I did the surgery 4 months ago.

Haze is reducing, and the doctor believes I will see a significant change around December (2 months from now).  If my left eye can recover completely, perhaps I will not feel as much regret as I do now.  Was this all a mistake?  It doesn't matter thinking negative thoughts now.  What's happened has happened.  A stupid mistake like keeping bandage contact lenses in for 5 weeks having such a huge impact on my life made me realize how fragile we human beings are.  No use of regret.  Time to live life, accept what has happened and move on.  God, I will keep living on as usual, but I ask and pray to you to please help my eyes recover.  God, please help my vision recover...

For the time being, they prescribed me with strong lenses which I have to get and start wearing eyeglasses to avoid the constant headaches I've been suffering from due to my eyestrain when trying to constantly focus on anything.  The prescription:

Eight eye: +6.00 -2.00x 90

Left eye: +2.25

The machine reading was different, but here it is:

Day 115 Post-Op (Oct 13)

It’s been a while since I last posted something. I am now less obsessive about my eyes, learning to deal with the temporary disability of ghosting and going on with my life. I still use the artificial tears around 4 times a day, but I don’t like using them anymore. For some reason whenever I place the drops on my eyes, the next 3+ hours my eyes feel dryer than when I don’t use them. However, overall, I don’t have any issues with dry eyes.


I have a follow up appointment in 9 days. It feels like it will be a very standard visit where I expect internal ocular pressure to be normal, eyes healing well and corneal haze reduction (although at a very minimal rate).

My vision has been improving now, but again, very slowly and not as obvious. When I attempt to focus on something by opening my eyes wide and tensing my eye muscles (just lightly to avoid any strain) things clear up as ghosting is reduced. Whenever I want to read small text (like the nutrition on a small food packet, or sometimes messages on my phone) I have to do one of the following:

1. Use the iPhone camera to zoom in so I can read it clearly (and enlarged)

2. Create a small pinhole using my fingers, and looking through that pinhole (all ghosting disappears when I do that)

3. Squinting my eyes (not straining the muscles, but closing the eye lids and leaving a small thin open space between the eye lids which reduce or almost eliminate ghosting. This is similar to #2 above but eithout looking strange and people giving me the look asking themselves “WTH is that guy doing!?”

All is well. Healing is on schedule and as always, patience is key. It’s been over 100 days now (115 to be exact) and my eyes are not even half way through the journey of healing completely. For anyone out there reading my blog, my advice to you is be patient, don’t obsess with your eyes and get on with your life. The less you obsess the faster you’ll feel the results and if the end destination is a good thing (even if it takes 1+ years), why rush? It’s not like you’re missing out on anything ;)

Health Screening at ICLDC

Today I had a health screening done at the Imperial College London Diabetes Center in Abu Dhabi. It involves various blood tests and a urine specimen to check for cholesterol, diabetes and liver health as well as performing an ECG to check heart health. Other standard measurements taken include weight, blood pressure, vision and checking if motor functions/senses are fine.

As expected, the first point was I gained weight from the last time I took the test (74kg in Nov 2010, 82kg in Sep 2011). 8 kilos gained!

Second point was an increase in LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol). Here is the cholesterol breakdown:

As you can see above, LDL cholesterol is very elevated and classified as “HIGH” while total cholesterol is high. What are the next steps? Exercise, eat fruits, avoid unhealthy processed food (i.e. lifestyle change) and a follow up appointment at the Imperial College in January 2012.

Two different types of corneal haze

Haze after Corneal Cross-Linking (CXL) is different in clinical character from haze after other procedures, such as PRK.


CXL associated haze is a dust-like change in the corneal stroma or a midstromal demarcation line, whereas haze due to other procedures (like PRK, LASEK etc...) has a more reticulated subepithelial appearance. Similarly, the mechanisms leading to haze formation may be different.
 
When I spoke to my doctor about the different types of haze he said they are very different.  One is a "good" haze that will disappear with time (associated with CXL), whereas the "nasty" haze, caused by PRK/LASEK can be permanent and very difficult to get rid off.
 
As strange as this sounds, I am really happy that I have the "good" haze!  It just means I have to be patient for around one year or so to have a clear haze-free cornea!

Natural history of corneal haze after collagen crosslinking for keratoconus and corneal ectasia

I found an interesting research paper titled "Natural history of corneal haze after collagen crosslinking for keratoconus and corneal ectasia" (Author: Steven A. Greenstein, Kristen L. Fry, OD, MS, Jalpa Bhatt, Peter S. Hersh, MD)

Since I had both LASEK and Corneal Cross Linking, and currently suffering from moderate (which I consider severe) corneal hazing, the below graph shows how corneal haze induced specficially by Corneal Cross Linking (which is different from other surgical procedures like LASEK or PRK) is reduced over time.  Research has shown 1 year is a good time for the haze to be reduced to levels a little over before the operation.  I am at 3 months now and I just can't wait.  I wish the haze would just go away but patience is the only thing that's left to do :(

Source: You can view the original article here

Day 87 Post-Op (Sep 15)

It has been a little over 12 weeks since the surgery. Things are a lot better but I have yet to achieve crisp vision. There is some minor ghosting in the left eye and major ghosting in the right eye. This is probably due to corneal hazing (I am approximating haze grade 0.5 on left, 2.0 on right). It could also be due to the cornea still thickening and smoothing out.

Apart from the technical details, things are getting better every week, but at the usual snail pace. I can drive comfortably during the day and night now but at times I wish things were a little crisper and clearer.

A little over a week ago I had another follow up appointment. It was supposed to be with another doctor I did not see before since my main doctor would be on leave. Lucky for me, when I arrived there, I saw him walk out of his office and seeing other patients. I requested they let me see him since he was back in the office now (he had a change of plan in his leave schedule).

The follow up was good news. Corneal hazing density has decreased and I was instructed to stop using the dexamethasone eyedrops (strong corticosteroids) and was switched to Fluorometholone (FML) instead, which are weaker corticosteroids. Based on the booklet I received after the surgery the standard practice is to start the FML eyedrops 4 weeks or so post surgery. Again, I’m special, and only started using them 12 weeks post surgery.

I started with FML 2 drops in the left and 4 FML drops in the right eye per day. Every week, I would reduce the frequency by 1 drop. Just yesterday I started with 1 drop left/3 drops right. So in 3 weeks time I should be off the FML and healing should speed up (corticosteroids slow healing but prevent inflammation and reduces corneal hazing).

On the not so great news (which I was expecting due to the extended use of the dexamethasone drops), intraocular eye pressure (IOP) in both eyes was elevated. I was given new eyedrops to use twice a day around the same time as the FML drops to reduce eye pressure. These drops sting every single time I place them in my eyes but their purpose is quite important. Elevated IOP is not a major issue if it persists for a short time, but longer periods can cause glaucoma (retina detaching due to pressure, can lead to blindness!!) So yeah, these pressure reducing drops are VERY important, and frequent follow-ups are just as important to monitor IOP,

I am scheduled for another follow-up on Saturday Sep 24. Hoping for greater news, faster healing and clearer vision! Patience is key, and I am hoping with time I will achieve vision better than pre-surgery where I had significant astigmatism, keratoconus and had to wear glasses which made the world smaller and shifted.

Day 62 Post-Op (Aug 21)

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).

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).

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).

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?