Hello Steem Folk!
Today I wanted to do something different because quite a lot has changed since I joined Steemit in early May and I believe that I have found my purpose in being on Steemit.
First thing's first, here's my verification:
It's a little past 4:30pm now, but it took me a good bit to scribble in these crazy letters. I took about a week off Steemit, during which I missed the hardfork and Steemit chat going down, so that was odd to come back to.
One thing you might notice right off is that I'm not wearing glasses anymore. Well, my dear Steemian, you would be correct!
Lasik: The Surgery
On June 17th, I had Lasik surgery to correct my horrible nearsightedness. And guess what... It worked! It hasn't been %100 easy, but for the most part, the surgery was quick and the recovery has been great! I've made it past week one and I'm feeling like a new person.
I must say that the surgery itself was fucking terrifying. In the waiting room, I watched as Dr. Eugene Smith, the top Lasik surgeon in Georgia and #5 in the US, operated on other people. The surgery room had open windows that you could see through.
When it was my turn to lay on the table, I was a nervous wreck, but also very excited. The nurse clamped my eyelids open so that I couldn't blink. I felt like I was living that scene in A Clockwork Orange where they strap Alex to the table and clamp his eyes open. Dr. Smith told me to focus on the red light as the nurse administered numbing eyedrops so that I couldn't feel anything.
I wove my fingers together and began humming as Dr. Smith put this hollow cylindrical device directly onto my right eye. "There's gonna be a lot of pressure," he said as my vision went totally black. I hummed louder to try and take my mind off what was happening. my hands began to tremble.
As he removed the device, my vision returned and he told me to continue watching the red light. A long metal stick came toward my eye. I could tell it was a scalpel, but I kept humming and watching the red light. I felt nothing as he cut my cornea and pulled the flap back, but my vision became some sort of white murkiness until he put my cornea back in place and began wiping my eyeball with a brush-like thing.
Then the left eye came and I continued to hum and twiddle my thumbs. Although the entire surgery took only 25 minutes, it felt as though I lay there for an eternity. What's craziest is that, when I got up from the table, I could already see better than before! It was as if I looked through a foggy mirror, but that's normal as your eyes have to adjust.
Lasik: Recovery
This was just a half hour after Lasik. I had to wear these protective sunglasses because my eyes were super sensitive to everything, especially light. My parents came all the way from Louisiana to Georgia to visit and take me to my surgery and I can't than them enough. I don't know how I can ever repay them.
I was told that I should take a nap immediately after getting home. My parents dropped me off and I attempted to do just that.
BUT to sleep I had to tape these crazy plastic bug eye things over my eyes! This is so that I wouldn't rub my eyes in my sleep or my pillow or whatever rub my eyes. I wore these things for about three nights before deciding I wouldn't rub my eyes in my sleep. They were terribly uncomfortable, but the worst part was the sticky residue left on my head when I woke up.
And this is how my eyes looked after I woke up from my nap! But the difference was I COULD SEE EVERYTHING WITHOUT GLASSES! I couldn't believe my own eyes, literally!
Dr. Smith prescribed me Ciprofloxacin and Prednisolone. The Cipro is to ensure that my eyes don't get infected while the Predni is a steroid to aid my eyes in the recovery process. I was to drop these in my eyes four times a day for the first week, which ended today!
I also had to drop these into my eyes once every hour for the first week. These are drops to moisten my eyes until mine recover. I've now switched to dropping them only four or so times a day unless my eyes get dry. I have to use these til they're gone, which will be for several months.
In addition, I am to take four of these tablets per day for the next three months. They are a dietary supplement that helps dry eyes.
And of course the sunglasses. I wear them every time I go out into the sun, especially if I'm driving.
I took this on the 20th, three days after Lasik. As you can see, my eyes have healed quite a bit and no longer look like I'm the devil. On the 19th, I had a checkup and Dr. Patel told me that my recovery was going great and I now had 20/15 vision!
I took this on the 23rd. My eyes are considerably less red and my vision is so sharp it's still blowing my mind.
And lastly, this is from today. My eyes have all but healed and I've finished my week one regiment of eyedrops. I'm loving being able to see without glasses for the first time since I was about 14 years old. Now I just gotta pay that surgery off!
Was it worth it? ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY! I will never see things the same, literally. I've been given a new lease on life and I won't look back.
So Why Steemit?
Ever since I returned from Lasik and my hiatus from Steemit, I knew that I needed to figure out what my blog was going to focus on. What was my purpose in being here?
Well, I wish to entertain as well as inform.
Bringing Something New to Steemit Gaming:
I looked around Steemit and found that I was the only one in Steemit gaming making Europa Universalis IV and Crusader Kings 2 AARs (after action reports). I could be wrong of course, but I looked a good while and saw no one else recently. So I've set out to work on bringing EU4 and CK2 to the world of Steemit for you Steemians to enjoy.
Here are my most recent campaigns:
Steemit Ironman: I decided to pay tribute to Steemit by creating a custom nation based on it and seeing what I could do with it. It's been very challenging so far, much like Steemit in real life.
León Ironman: What started as a play as the Count of León became a wild ride to form the Kingdom of Brittany. Currently Queen Isla has held the throne for over 50 years and she's been our main focus for the last few episodes.
Doin' Shit Yourself:
I am also an advocate of people learning to do things for themselves not only to save money, but also to retain their independence from others. To this end, I decided to start posting about my adventures in working on my old Saturn. I'm trying to keep it as an ongoing series that delves into how to do most of your own car repair and maintenance as I go.
In the most recent episode, I replaced the HVAC blower motor. Somehow, this managed to reach the top of Steemit diy for several days and so I hope I can continue to successfully educate the people of Steemit so that they can be as independent as possible.
Thanks for Reading!
Now that I've prattled on about some things, I hope you'll all continue to steem on and show me things too. I've already learned quite a bit since joining Steemit and I continue to see more and more high quality content in the communities.
Great job Steemians. Keep on Steemin' in the free world.
This is P5ych0path, signing off.