I can see!

Ok, I had the lasek this weekend.  All I can say is MAJOR OUCHY!  OMG, they told me there would be pain, but I didn't know the pain would be like this.  Here's the play by play.  I couldn't get a day off work (obvs), so I had to just leave 2 hours early on Friday (it's recommended you take at least 3 days off, I got the weekend plus 2 extra hours, sweet).  I roll in, they do about 45 mins more of tests on me (in addition to 2 hours of tests I had previously gotten) and then they prep me for surgery.  Surgery was a little scary because you can see everything they are doing to your eye (yikes) and the laser smells like burnt hair, so of course I imagined my eyeball bursting into flames.  But I didn't feel anything and they gave me a teddy bear to hold, so I was cool.  I then went into the recovery room to lay down for a half hour.  They had previously asked me what kind of music I wanted to listen to during recovery and I chose pop, which turned out to be an interesting medley which included "In da Club" and "Ooops! I Did it Again!"  I see the doctor one more time, he says everything's great, come back tomorrow morning, you are free to leave.  Now, they said I wouldn't have any pain until the second day, so I insisted to everyone that day that I would be fine to go home alone and went this mission solo.  Not wise!  The pain started immediately.  I leave and decide to beeline it for a cab.  Only problem is the eye center is in prolly the busiest area of Seoul.  It's smack in the middle of an outdoor shopping area and I have to walk through about 8-10 mins of crowds to get to a cab area.  Here's a pic of what I'm dealing with (stolen via google images):

Smack in the top center of the photo there is a blue sign with Korean lettering.  That is the eye place.  Not crowded at all.  

Furthermore, it's Friday at 8pm, prime shopping hour.  I was about ready to jump out of my skin stumbling around trying to get a taxi.  Note, yes, I have been here many times before.  And yes, I knew the crowd sitch. And yes, I knew I would have to venture a ways to find a cab.  Should I have not been so pigheaded and asked for help, yes.  But of course, I had the "I can do this myself!" attitude.  Ughhh.  Anyway, I will spare all the details, but the pain for the next 2 1/2 days was worse than I ever could have imagined.  Like I was being stabbed in the eyes while they were on fire and a steady stream of tears poured out eyes and nose.  I thought this can't be right, but when I had my next morning follow up appointment (I brought a friend this time), the dr said my eyes had already healed 30% in 14 hours!  He said I would continue to be in pain for the next 2 days, which I was, but by Monday, I would be ok, and I am!  He also said to take Monday out of work, but we know that can't happen.  It will be another week before my vision is perfect, but I am sitting here typing for the first time in my life with no glasses!  Hooray!  I don't think I was quite prepared for what I was getting into, but I think I will be v happy when all is said and done.  I have to go in tomorrow and get the clear bandages removed from my eyeballs.

That's about all for now.   I have some funny office things to write about, but eyes are really tired from looking at computer screen.  Sorry if this post was boring -- I might have gone into too much detail :-P