Off to Dallas, Texas...

Y'all guys..

I'm off to Dallas for the weekend starting today.   Will be visiting with friends and going to a reception Saturday.  Should be a lot of fun.  Also - LMK if there are any Deaf get-togethers happening over the weekend.  Maybe I'll show up to one of them.

Haven't been to Texas in almost a year, so am definitely looking forward to it! *smile*

Have a wonderful weekend y'all guys!!

Trip to Riveria Maya, Mexico

My vacation in Riveria Maya, Mexico was a BLAST!  I stayed at the Aventura Spa Palace Resort for four days.  It's an all-inclusive hotel which means I got to eat and drink for free all the way.  Even room service was free!  The food was delicious - 5 star quality food!  The best part of the hotel was the swimming pool bar.  Instead of getting out of the water, I just wade up to the pool bar and order any drink I wanted - no charge!  I drank a lot of pina coladas the whole time I was there.

I went snorkeling in one of the lagoons at the hotel.  Saw so many beautiful fish, conches, starfish, and the best part of all, a stingray!  The stingray was a little bit over 2 feet in diameter - I actually followed it from a distance and it was a surreal experience seeing one swim around in the wild!!

The whole time I was there - it was so relaxing and couldn't believe that time flew so by fast!  I would have thought that time would actually slow down while relaxing, but nope, it didn't.  I was just having so much fun relaxing and chatting with friends who were there for the trip.  This is definitely a trip I will never forget.  I do plan on going back to Riveria Maya someday soon! 

First evening at the hotel.   Gazebo overlooks the beach.  Beautiful view!! 

There were a number of cats at the hotel.  This particular cat was brave enough to come to our dinner table to catch scraps of food.  The cat actually caught its food with its paws and continued to eat from its pawas!! ***Cats were there for rodent control.  (The whole time I was at the hotel, I did not even see one mouse -- KUDOS to the cats for doing a great job!!) 

Fishing trip!  It was a beautiful and a very HOT day!  We caught a good number of yellowtail snappers and a few trigger fish.  The fish you see me holding is a Triggerfish.  We didn't keep our catch after the fishing trip was over.  The important thing is that we had fun fishing and riding in the boat!! *smile*

Towels shaped together as an elephant.  While I was out during the day, someone would come into our room and make something out of towels.  I also had a peacock shaped towel, too.  Will post a picture of it when I find one.  Neat, huh!?

The lagoon at the hotel where I snorkelled in.  Lots of fish and got to see a stingray.

A picture of Rob and me.  We've been best pals since our days at Gallaudet.  He now lives in Seattle, WA.  Some of you Gallaudetians may know him.  Rob came to Mexico and he had an awesome time!!  (Yes - we both got a great tan while there!)

An Update :)

Hi Folks,

I went in for my 2nd follow-up appointment with my eye doctor.  Everything is looking good.  The "suture" at the center of my eye is slowly going away.  It's causing my slight double vision.  The doctor says that once the "suture" goes away, my double vision will disapper completely.  (The suture is very similar to a scab on your skin - but in PRK patients, it's a mass of epithelial cells that have merged to the center of the eye during the healing process).  I'm hopeful that in a couple of weeks or so, I'll be seeing 20/20 in the left eye -- am looking forward to the day!

Next week (Thursday, Sept 28th), I'll be off to Riveria Maya, Mexico for a four day vacation.  While there, I'll be attending a wedding of a childhood friend I've known since I was 9.  The hotel where I'm staying at is close to several Maya Ruins.  This means I'll be out exploring/hiking throughout the Maya Ruins.  It'll be a blast!      ***I'll post some pics of my trip once I figure out how to post them here in my weblog***

I went to a Travel Clinic to see what I needed to do before travelling to Mexico.  Turns out I needed to get Hepatitis A and Typhoid Fever immunization shots and an anti-malaria prescription. Now - I'm all set for the trip and ready to do some kick-ass hiking!

Hope all is well with y'all guys.

Cheers!

My PRK Eye Surgery (same as Laser Eye Surgery)

I wanted to share my experience with my Custom PRK surgery here.  Custom PRK is where my cornea is "sculpted" by a laser beam to make the necessary corrections so I can be eyeglasses free someday!  It is a completely different procedure from LASIK where a flap of your cornea is created.  The flap is then put back in place after the laser does its job.  PRK doesn't even involve a creation of a flap, just an abrasion of your cornea.  The cornea cells do regenerate, but takes a few months for them to completly regenerate.  Vision results for PRK is the same as LASIK, but it is far a safer procedure as complications are less with PRK than with LASIK.

I had Custom PRK done on 24/AUG/2006 (Thursday) on my left eye.  My vision for both eyes before the procedure was:

Right Eye: -2.25  -0.75  x165
Left Eye:  -2.50  -2.25  x165 
Vision without eyeglasses correction: 20/400
Vision with eyeglasses correction: 20/25

As you can see I have astigmatism in both eyes, but left eye being worst of both.  Surgeon recommended PRK for both eyes due to astigmatism.

After the procedure was done on my left eye - I went home afterwards and took an almost 4 hour nap to help with the recovery process.  After I woke up, I didn't experience any pain or discomfort.  Started on the regime my doctor prescribed after waking up.  (Antibiotic, Steriod, and Anglestic drops for 7 days along with preservative-free artficial tears)

The next day I got my left eyeglasses lens replaced with a plano lens.  That way I can see fine through my right eye with my glasses.  (it would have looked weird if I had no lens in my left eyeglasses frame!  )  (Plano means non-prescription)

My vision was blurry for the first 3 days.  4th - 5th day, vision started to clear up just a tad bit.

31/AUG/2006 (Thursday) 7-day post-op checkup
Everything went well - Doctor says I see around 20/40.  Vision is in-between clear/fuzzy.  Contact lens bandage was removed. Doctor also warned me that my vision would flucate over 4 - 6 weeks.  Vision will gradually become clearer and crisp by then.  My eyedrops regime was also changed - just use steriod drops 4x a day for one week.  Then 3x a day for 1 week.  Then 2x a day for 1 week.  By 4th week, just 1x a day for a week.  Continue to use artifical tears 6 - 8 times a day.  Use an eye gel ointment at night for a month. (Antibiotic and Anglestic drops were discontinued)  My cornea has healed to the point that there's a "suture" looking line at the center of my eye.  (I'm told that at that point, it takes a LONG time to gradually go away) 

My double-vision (ghosting) started on 2/SEPT/2006 (Saturday).  I expected this to happen and am hopeful that it won't take a long time for it to go away.  Other than the double vision, my blurriness has gone away completely.

I will have my right eye done at a later date - want to allow my left eye to recover to a point where I will be comfortable having my right eye done.  It could be a month or couple of months from now.  The surgeon suggested this to me so I'm taking his advice.

Thanks for reading about my Custom PRK experience.  I will continue to update y'all as time goes by.  My next follow-up with the doctor is 14/SEPT/2006 (Thursday).  I'll be sure to post my follow-up here.

Cheers  

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