A miracle has occurred this week! After wearing glasses or contacts for pretty much his whole life, Russell can now see without wearing either! Here's Russell:
Here I am ready for the day I have been told I could never have. I have had glasses since I was 6 years old and have worn many pairs. I have also had contacts since I was 15 years old. When I started my job with Fire Department, I did not want to hurry and put my contacts in during the middle of the night just in case there was a fire so instead of taking them out I slept with them in for two days for about three years. Needless to say the doctor told me that was stupid to do.The vessels in my right eye were not doing well and the eye doctor said if it got any worse I could not wear contacts anymore and I would be stuck with glasses for the rest of my life. This comment hit home and I started to think about taking the plunge and getting Lasik corrective surgery on my eyes. I was told by my new eye doctor I would be a great candidate.
So here I am on the day of the procedure. Tiffany, Logan, Charlotte and I got up early and drove to Ogden where the surgical center was at. I signed paper work they told me what to expect. Before I left they said take a blanket and here is a Valium to take to help you relax. I thought at first when they said take a blanket, "Heck ya I am taking a blanket, this is a spendy surgery and the least they can give me is a blanket." The next thought was, "I have never taken Valium before so heck ya let me have it to see what it does to me." Once I walked out to the waiting room, I put on some cool blue booties and a cool blue hair cap. Before I went in we watched, through the window, a couple of procedures that were going on. I thought holy cow they are scrapping off the lens of that person's eye. When it was finally my turn to go in and they put in some numbing drops in my eyes. Now I was in the chair being asked to look straight forward. They put in this little cookie cutter thing in my eye and then said hold still. I felt a pop and then they took it out. The doctor then pealed back the lens of one eye and the room went dark. He then said hold that eye really still as the laser does its work. I heard a lot of popping noises and then it stopped. He put the lens back down and I was able to see again. They did the same thing to the other eye. The whole procedure took around 10 minutes or so and I was walking out of the room. As I walked out of the room my vision was a little cloudy, but I was able to see. They gave me some cool glasses to wear for the next 5 days.
I was disappointed the Valium did not work during the procedure, but it did work on the way home. I was not able to drive home of course so Tiffany drove home. I was really tired that I forgot to swallow my saliva and when I took a breath in I aspirated some saliva and woke up really fast gagging. Tiffany looked at me and said are you going to die. I laughed and said wow maybe the Valium is working. The whole day was full of a lot of sleep because it felt like I had tons of dirt in my eyes and tons of irritation. I also had to put eye drops in every hour because they cut the cornea nerve. The whole day was fun to see without glasses. Sleeping the first day was weird because I had to sleep with the funny looking glasses. The next day was even better. The irritation was a lot less and I was able to see even better. My eye doctor said the surgery went really well and my eyes look great. I can finally see!!
We had a lot of fun the rest of the week too. March 1 was the Literacy Night at the school. Since this was the same day as Russell's surgery, I took the kids while he rested his eyes and played with Charlotte.
As part of the program, Colby and the rest of the first graders did a little program of poems and songs. Colby did a great job and was a little crazy around his friends. He was making faces at us the whole time. What a funny boy. At the literacy night, each of the kids got a new book to take home and Colby and Emily got a prize book for completing their summer reading chart. So we came home with 5 new books to add to our library.
On March 2nd, we had the opportunity to watch the USU Gymnastics meet against BYU. It was USU's Pink Meet supporting cancer awareness. Because of this, I was able to walk out with the gymnasts and other breast cancer survivors and be recognized in the opening ceremonies.
These things are always really humbling to me. I love meeting other cancer survivors and talking to them. It really gives me the hope of continuing to survive and get through this just like they have. The thing I struggle with and the reason I feel inadequate in these situations is that I don't feel like I am some kind of hero, I feel like I just did what I had to do to survive and that's it.
The gymnastics meet was pretty fun to watch. I was amazed at the talent of these gymnasts! They all did really well.
The gymnasts competed in the Vault, Bars, Beam, and a Floor Routine. I think our favorite was the floor routines but they were all great. Emily loved every minute and now wants to be a gymnast even more than before. Colby and Logan thought it was pretty cool too. Charlotte was not so much.
At the end of the meet, USU ended up coming up short by 0.1 of a point so BYU won. I could not believe it was so close. After the meet, there was a big dance party on the floor with all of the kids in the crowd. Emily ran right down there so she could be a part of it. She said it was so fun.
We had a great week this week.
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