Brent goes THUD!

Brent has been begging to get LASIK eye surgery for the past few months to correct his nearsightedness. I had told him that ophthalmologists wouldn't even consider him until his 18th birthday. So since his birthday (a little over a week ago) he's been hounding me to get him an appointment. It was really strange...Brian and I went to a certain doctor in town and our results were great but for some reason I felt the need to check around Albuquerque for a doctor who offered the most advanced technology. I'm now thinking it was inspiration on my part. Read on...

It appears that Brent has thin and slightly abnormal corneas. If the cornea is thin, it may be subject to disease called keratoconus. Brent's doctor explained that there is a certain amount of cornea that needs to remain untouched for the cornea to remain stable. As Brent heard the diagnosis, his heart sank. But, the doctor continued, there is a somewhat new procedure for people like him that would give just as good, or better vision. It's called ICL (Implantable Collamer Lens). His doctor will make a small incision and will insert a corrective lens inside the eye behind the iris. To read a little more you can go to the following link: Starr Visian ICL. This doctor is the only one in the state qualified to do this procedure (that's where I am thinking the spirit guided me to a different doctor). I've seen in orthodontics how some dentists or orthodontists do procedures that are not in the best interest of the patient and appreciate this doctor not risking the future health of Brent's eyes by performing a surgery that could cause injury somewhere down the road.

The only downside I can see is that the cost is a bit more (like adding the cost of a third eye). He could have opted for PRK but the recovery time and pain are not worth the lower cost.

OH...not only did we get the surprise that Brent was not a candidate for Intralase (Laser surgery)...but right before Brent had his left cornea measured, he blacked out and fell out of the chair. I had been with him for all the other tests before we got the results from one of the eye maps that noted his thin and irregular corneas. The eye tech put some numbing drops in Brent's eyes and then told me to wait while she and Brent went out of the room, just a few steps away, to do this last test...

After about 30 seconds...I heard a THUD and then the tech yelling for help. I ran out and saw Brent flat on his stomach. I turned him over and he started coming to. The first thing he said was that his knees hurt (that's because his knees hit the table on his way falling out of the rolling chair). He also mentioned his ear hurting (that's cuz his head hit the wall!). We are not sure why he fainted. Could have been the lack of food (he barely got a banana down before we went to his appointment at 11 AM) or it could have been slight nervousness at having his second eye touched by a probe.

You'll have to ask him the rest of the story or how he felt BEFORE and AFTER the THUD :-)

Comments

Elise said…
Wow! The eye surgery sounds pretty cutting edge...but pretty nerve-racking also. Hope Brent is ok!
Ugh. I almost passed out just reading about it. Ask my mom about the time I got my eyes numbed. Not a good time.

*And Elise: "The eye surgery sound pretty cutting edge"
(NO PUN INTENDED) Ha!
Pam Jorgensen said…
NO! Speedy Gonzalez goes down! Scott would say, "A piper is down!!" with his best attempt at a Scottish accent.

Brent's a tough boy like Carson...I'm sure he's OK!