Latest Eye Appointment

Well my right eye is +.44 and my left is -1.2 That's right where we want it to be for distance (R) and reading (L). My astigmatism (causing the double vision) is still due to the edema and slow healing. Turns out the steroid drops are there to slow down the healing so I don't get haze. But I'm past the worrisome stage now so he told me to stop the steroid (Flarex) for 2 weeks and said I should see some definite improvement in the next few days. I continue to be optimistic. I guess I'll avoid fast rides for another week or so. Stick to the trainer for endurance and maybe do some hill repeats.

I went for a swim today. Took Jesse and did some lengths during public swimming. it was pretty cool to have better vision with regular swim goggles and even more so, to be able to see around the pool deck when I took them off. I wasn't up to par so only did about 40 minutes, maybe 800m? I lost count a bit so I'm guesstimating. I alos loved my new silicone swim cap. It was awesome. Smooth, tight, and no hair pulling! My hair was still dry when I took it off!

Later today, I went for a run. I did not feel like going but the sun had come out (after snow showers of all things!) so I couldn't resist. My shins/calves are sore from the MT yesterday but I decided to just go for it anyway. They didn't really hurt all that much while I was running anyway. I did mostly 5 min run intervals today and decided to do a full 5km run. The 5 minutes I walked as a cool down. My run total was 17:00 though, a bit too big a jump from my last run I think. Well, maybe not. That was 24 min and that's still about a 10% increase right? OK, I feel better. Hmm, didn't know I could talk to myself on a blog. Weird girl. Anyhoo, I am happy to have done 5km even if it took me 40 minutes. I'll try to do that 2 more times this week. Yeah.

Late. Hope my eyes are better tomorrow. They sucked today.

Mini-Update

I had my massage appointment this morning. I thought my calves were still sore and lumpy and maybe had reverted back to my previous condition but I was happy to find out there were MUCH better than last time. There is still some point tenderness, but the big lumps are almost gone and she was able to dig in there pretty deeply without hurting me. I am optimistic that I'll be able to continue increasing my running now. This week, I'll do a full 5 minute run with 1 minute walk breaks and see if I can do a full 5km. Should easily be able to do 5k in 30 minutes I think.

I called to see if I can get in with the orthoped but unfortunately she's booked up until April 8th. Ugh. So, I will keep running without the orthotics I guess. What else can I do? I figure I have a few options - get new orthotics made. Buy new runners to use with these orthotics. Get new runners and use without orthotics. Buy cheapo orthotics from the drug store? I dunno... In the meantime I am going to try wearing my orthotics with my regular shoes but quit at the first sign of pain in the toe joint.

I also called to make an appointment with the eye doctor tomorrow morning. Since I started using the Muro drops again, my eyes are definitely clearer. I read a lot online about the 'ghosting' I'm seeing. It looks like this.




It's very frustrating but I guess it's pretty well par for the course for up to THREE MONTHS or sometimes even longer. Argh. There can be several causes for the ghosting or double vision. The most common, and most likely, is the corneal edema. That takes time to reduce. The other causes could be from uncorrected astigmatism, or possibly new astigmatism. Hopefully this is not the case. I guess they can't really tell the cause until times passes. I guess as long as it keeps getting better, I can tolerate it. I am still going to go in to see about contacts or glasses tomorrow though. I REALLY need to be able to see when I ride fast.

I went for my first road bike ride of the year today. It was sunny but cool out so I was dressed in shorts and tights, warm jersey, short sleeved jersey, wind jacket, and long gloves. I had to rig up my sunglasses so they didn't hurt behind my ears so that meant I couldn't wear my head band. I had to stuff kleenex in my ears instead which isn't the greatest but what can you do. We did part of the Lakeshore route but I chose not to do the big hill because it's a fast, windy downhill on the way back and it's hard to go slowly. There is often a lot of gravel on the road there to. instead, we turned around at the park and then headed down Lakeshore to Mission Park, then over to Gordon, and up the big hill home. It was my first climb up Gordon this season and I was anxious to see if my training since January would help my time. Last year, my best time was 3:30, my avg time was 3L:45-4:00. My first time last March was 4:15. Today I did 3:50! That made me really happy. It was cold and I know I can do the climb faster if I'm warmer so I am optimistic that I am in better shape than I usually am this time of the year. Other than that, it's hard to tell what kind of shape I'm in. We didn't do a regular route so my avg speed but isn't very indicative of my condition. (only 23.2 km/h I think).

Overall, my eyes were ok on the ride. The riding I did last week, gave me more confidence to ride on familiar terrain. I certainly was more cautious than usual but Erik was great and let me lead the whole way so I could see close up and in the distance.

Getting back at it

Well I got back from the coast yesterday and now I have to get back into training mode. I'm happy to say that I was able to keep up with my running while I was gone and we even did some easy riding but I haven't been in a pool for 3 weeks! Aaack! I know I can do the runs, I hope I can do the biking, and the only thing stopping the swims is that I can't drive myself there.



Eye Update

Guess I should do this first. I am frustrated with my eyes again. They fluctuate SO much! Some days I can read, some days I can't. Right now I seem to have way more distortion and double vision than usual. I tried riding without glasses and quite frankly, I was terrified going over 20 kmh, especially on the downhills with the rougher roads. And there's no way I would go off-road.

I think my vision is actually good enough to drive now but I am not comfortable doing that yet either. And especially not at night. I can't really watch TV. Sometimes I can't read magazines or smaller print. And I am just plain tired of not seeing clearly. REALLY tired of it. Tomorrow, I am going to call for another appointment to see if I can get some contacts. I'm not sure if I can wear them but ideally, I'd like those continuous wear type that I don't have to play around with them too much. I don't really know how it works, but I'm assuming I could get weaker ones as time went by if my eyes actually improve. Anyway, I really find that my poor vision is impeding my ability to get on with life. I can function, but not in a comfortable way. I am tired of living like this. Ugh.

Training Plan

Last week, I went for 3 runs while I was away. I did 4 min intervals of running with run totals 22-24 minutes. I felt good but my calves hurt. My shins hurt to touch but dont' hurt much when I run so I'm not stopping. I've been running without my orthotics because they hurt the top of my feet. I will call her tomorrow to make an appt for that as well. Argh. Argh. Argh.

I also rode my mountain bike - some of it just toodling around, and some of it some hilly rides that made me work harder. The highlight was riding on the beach in Tofino. My bike was salty and sandy after that but it was worth it! We did about 85km in total over the week.

I bought some regular swim goggles today so hopefully I can make myself go for a swim tomorrow. Maybe I'll go during public swim time so Jesse can play as well? I also bought a nice blue silicone swim cap and some new hair elastics. Looking forward to that. :)

I guess until I see the eye doctor, I can't plan my biking. I really do need to get on the bike and it seems awful to have to ride the trainer now. I'll wait utnil tomorrow to decided about that.

My gym pass only lasts until the end of this week so I might go 1-2 more times.

Well, that's all my whining for now.

Vacation Time

Well, I'm all packed and ready to take off tomorrow morning. We'll stay in Tsawwassen tomorrow night, catch a ferry to Saltspring Monday morning for two nights, then Tofino for 3 nights, and back to Langley for one night before heading home on Easter Sunday. I can't wait!!

I went for a good run this morning. The tops of my feet were hurting as soon as I put my shoes on so I took the orthotics out and that felt better, although still a bit tender. I did a min warm up walk, then one 3 min. run, followed by 1 min walk, 4 min run intervals. Did a total of 4km, in 30 minutes with 19 min of running total. It felt fine, no shin pain, and I felt like I could probably have run longer, but I resisted the urge.

Over the next week, I hope to run a few times, and we're taking our mountain bikes so we can do a bit of fun riding. I might swim at the hotel on the last night, if I can find some goggles.

I just want to add - hubby and I both had car crash dreams on Wednesday night. Weird. I thought I'd write that down here for posterity, just in case, ya know? Not that I believe in that kind of stuff... :)

Eye Update and First Run!

Well I'm still hanging in there. My vision is still up and down, more down than I'd like, but everyone tells me that it takes time so I'll continue to be patient. But I don't feel like myself and it's hard to get out and do things I need to do. I took my running gear to school yesterday but by the end of the day, I was so tired and felt really crummy so I ended up dragging my butt (and my gear) home and having a nap, then going to bed early. My vision was pretty crappy yesterday as well. This morning, it was a little better, but only back to what it was on Tuesday. I really do noticed now that it is distortion as opposed to blurriness, and it's annoying and disconcerting. hard to explain, hard to understand. I can't quite put my finger on it - I just don't feel 'right". Anyway, again I took my gear to school and again I dragged it home unused. My vision was pretty blurry by the time I got home and I was tired so did a bit of work and went to lie down for a little while. I listened to a new running podcast called Phedippidations and found it quite interesting and amusing. Steverunner, the guy who does the podcast was just going out for a 14 mile run and he talks while he runs, as well as inserts other bits and pieces. I listened (and dozed) for about 20 minutes, then felt motivated to get up out of bed and at least TRY to go for a run. By now it was 5:45 but it was still light out so off I went.

I did my 3:00 min. walking warmup, then started 3:00/1:00 run/walk intervals. The tops of my feet right away as soon as I put my shoes on, even my right foot! It was the first time I've tried running with the cut down left orthotic and I have a feeling I AM gong to have to get it recast after all. After the first run, I stopped to loosen my shoes a bit, and eventually, they stopped hurting and only I felt a bit of 'discomfort'. Argh. My last run was without any orthotics and I felt great before, during, and after. Anyway, I'll give it a few more runs and then if it's still a problem, I'll deal with it after our vacation.

I felt all sorts of stiff aches and pains - my body rebelling after 10 days off. But I kept going and I didn't cut back from my last run interval time. I figured, why bother. Overall, my vision didn't seem to bother me too much. I wore sunglassses, even though it was cloudy, and I continued listening to the podcast throughout the run (It's 1:30 hours long I think.) I was cautious where I put my feet and made sure there were no rocks or anything I could trip over. I tried to stay off the gravel on the sides of the road - it will be nice when it's all cleared off the roads.

Anyway, I did 3.8km, in 30 minutes. 18:00 running in total. I think it was great to get out and run - more for my mental state than anything else. I think I will try to fit in a run on Saturday as well, and maybe go to the gym tomorrow??

Gotta get back at it...

Friday - eye doctor appt at2:45.
Saturday - pack, run, snow tires on
Sunday - Sunday - Sa;tspring, Tofino, Vancouver!!

Positive news!

Good news at my eye appointment today! Apparently most of my vision problems are due to 'corneal edema' causing fairly severe astigmatism (double vision, distortion etc) rather than true blurriness. The optometrist gave me some drops and ointment that will draw out the excess moisture and 'suck' my cornea back down to where it should be. He convinced me I likely won't need temporary glasses if I can just hold off for 2 more days. So - I am going to go back to work tomorrow and muddle my way through until it clears up. Yay!!!!

9 pm - I've been using the new drops today and I think it might be making a difference - either that or I'm just seeing better overall. It feels so much less stressful being able to see a bit. It gets tiring straining to see all the time. This must be the first time in my life I've gone an entire week without being able to see... Weird experience...

Running out of patience

Well it's Sunday morning and my vision is not any better than it was two days ago. I am disappointed. I know they say that your vision fluctuates a lot in the first few weeks and that it can take 6-8 weeks to get to your true vision, and that your vision in the first week is by no means your final vision, BUT I have a hard time believing that it can get to 20/20 from here. They also told me I should be able to drive by a week and that I'd probably be out by a diopter or two if my vision wasn't perfect after the first surgery. I'm pretty sure it's at least -6 t -8 right now. I used to be able to see only about 2 inches away from my face, now I can see clearly about 2 feet. That's an improvement but I can't work or read or function. I can't go for a run or ride my bike. I can't imagine that I'm not going to need to get glasses when I go for my checkup tomorrow morning. In fact, at this point, I'm wondering if they'll be bad enough that I'll need to get high-density lenses again and that is a whole hassle and expense unto itself. I don't even want to think about that possibility right now.

Anyhow, there won't be any workouts for me today. I've had a headache all morning from eye strain and I don't have the energy to do anything active. If I can, I get some energy, might do some pilates this afternoon.

Video of My Eye Surgery

Friday - things are looking up.

I woke up today in less pain. Did my eye drops routine, had a drink of carrot/passionfruit juice and went back to bed. Slept off and on until noon, did the eye drops again then back to bed. Tired but feeling ok. Took ibupropehn only. At 2, I got up and had a shower to try to feel normal. Went outside with my sunglasses on and cleaned up the fron flower bed in my half vision. Weird. I am looking a bit better today but I still look like I've been sleeping for 3 days. I hate the no make up rule too....

Better Days Ahead?

Can't stay online long but thought I'd give a quick update.

Yesterday was brutal. In fact, it started the night before. Severe eye pain, burning, swelling, general irritation. At bedtime I took an endocet and put in the emergency freezing drops so I could fall asleep. I did manage to whimper myself to sleep and slept well until 4am. Up again with same symptoms. I took some ibuprophen and waited. Nothing. Took another endocet and then eventually the freezing drops again. Eventually zonked me out so could sleep some more. The rest of the was like that. When the endocet wore off around noon, I just rested and suffered thru with ibuprophen because I had an orthoped appt at 3 that I really didn't want to miss. At 2, I got up and had a shower. Then I rested until mom picked me up. The drive was terrible - super sunny, I could barely tolerate it. Keeping my eyes closed made me car sick too. The appt was quick so I'm glad I went because she has hopefully fixed my left orthotic now and I'll be able to run again. /Sigh/ the weather is so beautiful I want to go for a long bike ride and run!!! Saw the street cleaners today /sigh over.../

So I did not go online all day - had zero vision and eyes were way too painful. I did have a lovely dream that I could see perfectly though. How disappointing to wake up and find it wasn't true...

I won't get my report cards handed in today. I've only got maybe 1-2 hours to finish them but it'll have to wait until the weekend. Got the ok for that so will hand them in Monday.

So - yesterday I slept pretty much the whole day. I was never up for more than hour. Last night, I went to bed at 11 and took two ibuprophen, then later two tylenol and 1mg ativan. Didn't want to take the endocet - it wasn't that bad. I slept solidly until 6:30 this morning. Have a pretty bad headache so took more ibuprophen, but but I think the swelling's gone down an bit and I'm feeling a bit better. Still - I am going to put in my drops and go backt o sleep. I had no idea I could sleep for days on end. Weird.

I'm confused about what to do Monday. I feel like it's very unlikely that I'll have 100% vision to go on Monday. It's most likely I'll have to get some temporary glasses before I go back to work. He doesn't want to measure my vision when he takes the contact out on Saturday because it will still be swollen and distorted. He says he can squeeze me in for a vision test on Monday and they can likely make me some glasses tow ear to school Tuesday. I am suspicious of this. I think I'll call the glasses place and confirm that they can make glasses in one day.Can't decide if I should just Monday off now, or wait until I see how my vision is on Sunday and hope for a miracle....

Back to bed now - its 8am and time for my early morning nap...

I have listened t about 2- Fitness Rocks podcasts in the last 2 days though....

Well, I'm not going to fix the typos. Can't see well enough I do that tomorrow.

Oh, and I took another picture yesterday morning, at my worst. Wanna see it? If I feel like it later, I'll post it.

A picture for ya...

This was take around suppertime of the second day - Wednesday. The swelling and irritation had started. My bedtime I was in a lot of pain. Finally took an endocet and the anesthetic drops so I could fall asleep. Slept well until 4am then up again in agony. Took the pills and drops again and managed t fall back to sleep eventually.

One day post laser eye surgery

8 am I had a good night's sleep but myeyes are sore and watery and puffy this morning. My vision sucks this morning. I'm heading off to see the doctor in a few minutes then I think I'll go back to bed. Argh....

It is not easy to update my blog with my face pressed against the screen and one eye closed so I don't see double... :)

1:00 pm Well I had a long nap and I'm trying to see if I can get at least one report card done this afternoon. If not, they may just have to wait until Sunday. My eyes are feeling ok, a bit sore and burning. They have given me so much strong pain meds but I've only taken a couple of ibuprophen so far. I guess tomorrow is the painful day. Hope it's not too bad.

I need a hair cut, my hair keeps falling into my face without my glasses to hold it back.

Did I mention my vision still sucks? Apparently, it's from my swollen cornea as well as brom the 'bandage' contact. The doctor wasn't surprised though. I cannot believe it will be clear enough to drive in 7 days and he tended to agree. We agreed that I will likely need to take Monday off so I can sneak in an extra appt to get my eyes tested and purchase some temporary glasses so I can go back to work. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need them, but who knows.

I've listened to 4 episodes of Fitness Rocks on my ipod so far today. Now I'm hungry. Off to forage.

The Eyes Have It

7 am Wow, there are so many things going through my mind today, I can't concentrate on anything. Today is the big day. I have a massage appt this morning at 9am and then I have to get the rest of my report cards done. I go in for the surgery at 2:30pm. I am feeling so strange about it. I have been wearing high prescription glasses for 40 years. Having really bad eyesight is a big part of who I am. That is going to change forever. I know it's sounds dumb but a part of me wants to capture and remember what it's like to see so poorly. I think I will see if I can take a photo on my computer and blur it until it looks like my current vision, just so I don't forget where I came from. I am crazy. I know. I went swimming with my prescription goggles for the last time yesterday. I put my glasses on my night table before I went to sleep last night for the last time. I put ON my glasses this morning for the last time. I had a semi-blind shower this morning for the last time. It almost makes me weepy. Weirdo....

12:30 pm I had my massage and have been trying to work on my report cards this afternoon. It is so hard to keep my mind on them. Several people have wished me good luck. I spent a few minutes trying to make a digital photo look blurry enough to match my current vision. Yup, it's strange. My stomach is doing flip flops. 2 more hours.....

Another Break Through

Well my Monday run felt great too! I had a great 4km run with all 3 minute intervals. Felt like I could have kept on running. Top of my left foot was still a little tender but not painful so I ignored it. That'll be my last run this week because I get my eye surgery on Tuesday. I also have an appointment with the orthoped on Thursday so can hopefully get my left orthotic problems ironed out once and for all.

Also on Monday, I swam 1000m in 25 minutes! Whoo hooo!!!! I will not be able to swim for three weeks now (two weeks for post surgery care and one week away on holidays) so I am hoping that it'll only take me a week to get back on track once I resume the swimming (without prescription goggles I hope!!)

Yay, I am happy!

I did not work out on Sunday - did a good one hour trainer ride Saturday but had too much school work to get done on Sunday so skipped the gym and trainer.

Patience is a virtue

OK, I am happy to be able to follow up that whiny post with an ecstatic, positive one!!! I MUST remember this so that the next time I am experiencing road blocks, I can keep in mind that everything can be overcome if I work hard and have patience.

So - after my rather painful run on Wednesday, and my missed swim, I took it easy for a couple of days. I went to the gym on Thursday but didn't do squats. I tried some self-massage and had hot baths and stretched. Friday was a day off of course, and the top of my foot was still tender but feeling better. I was in a quandry about whether I should run today but decided to give it a try and see how my foot and calves felt.

I was a feeling bit tight before I left but once I started running, I felt fine so I did 2X2:00 runs, and then 4X3:00 with 1:00 walking in between. I felt great and think I could have run longer than 3:00 but I know better than to push my luck so I kept a rein on things. Got back in 30:00 with 16:00 of running total. Yee haw!

Then my biggest excitement was my swim today.

I started with the warm up and build up parts of my swim plan (400m in total). I stopped for the :10 rest breaks at 25m or 50m when I needed to. Then when I did the core, I decided to go steady and do the whole 400m without stopping if I could. And I did, fairly easily to be honest. 400m in 10:20 made me very happy. Well, at that point, I still felt strong so I decided to do 500m instead, and then of course I couldn't stop after that and went on to do 800m in total, without stopping!!! 21:00, not a bad pace for me to maintain. I am super excited that I can do the entire 750m of the triathlon in a reasonable amount of time, without stopping. Now I just need to work on that in a regular way until summer when I can learn the next stage, which is an open water swim, in a wet suit. Baby steps... :)

Next week is likely to be a whiny week. I won't be able to workout most of the week and I'll be in pain from my eye surgery. It'll drive me nuts to be stuck at home, with nothing to do, and I can't even play on the computer much because it'll hurt my eyes. Argh. I am trying to remember that the rest week will be great for my body though. :)