It Started With A Blurry Screen…
I was nine years old. Remember how they used to have those films in school where you would have to read a subtitle at the bottom of the screen? Well, I couldn’t read the bottom. So they sent a note home saying that maybe I needed to get my eyes checked, and my parents took me and I needed glasses. So I was supposed to wear them all the time, and I wouldn’t wear them all the time. I would just wear them to read or to do my homework, watch TV, stuff like that. And I guess over the years my eyes just got worse. Basically, I never used to wear my glasses, because I hated them. Then, when I was fifteen, I was in a wedding and got contacts. So I began wearing contacts ever since.

Hating Glasses…
I just didn’t like these things sitting on my face. And, you know, glasses, they were unattractive. My first pair of glasses was like, huge… and my mother still has them! And she’ll pull them out. "Oh, look at her first glasses." And I’m just like, ugh, stop. I was nearsighted and my glasses were thick. I’d have to pay to have them thinned out, stuff like that. So it was bad. I couldn’t see the clock when I woke up at night. I couldn’t see the computer screen. I’m sitting right there and it’s still difficult. So it was pretty bad.

Losing Contacts…
Contacts I liked, but when I first got them, they were the hard contacts, so they were kind of uncomfortable at times. They would pop out. Stuff like that. I’d lose them. My parents would have to spend money to buy new ones. Then after a while the disposable ones came out and those worked well for me, because then I would just throw them out and that was it. I was nearsighted but all I know is that on the contact box it would have like negative four, negative five, so that’s all I really remember.

A Blade? No Way…
I was always interested in the surgery, but they used to do it with the actual blade, and I saw it being done one day and I was like, "I don’t think I’d be able to do that." It was on TV. A basketball player was having it done. And I’m looking at him lying there and I’m like, there is no way I would be able to do that, because he was awake. I was like, "There’s no way!” So I just put it on the back burner. I just never thought about it again. And then I started hearing about people getting it. And I thought, well, a lot of people are getting this surgery so something must be up. So I started asking and people told me it was now being done with a laser.

The Coworker Test…
So a coworker of mine, he had glasses or contacts, and he told me he was going to have the surgery done. He went to a couple of doctors and somehow he heard about Dr. Kelly, and he went and he made the appointment to have the surgery done like two days later. So then he came in that Monday, and I said, "You can see?" He said, "I can see." So he gave me a card for Dr. Kelly, and I still didn’t make the appointment right away. Then I went in January for the consultation and he told me I was a candidate, gave me the pricing, all the paperwork, everything. And I just didn’t do anything still.

The Final Straw…
Then one morning it took me like half an hour to put one contact in. And I was like, you know what? When I get to work, I’m making that appointment. And I made the appointment and that was it. I guess it was just God telling me, you know what? You’re a candidate and you need to do this. I mean, I just sat there and I was like, I can’t believe it is taking me so long to put a contact lens in.

The Consultation Experience…
The consultation is very, very extensive. I’ve never had such an extensive eye exam, and everything is high-tech. I would look into the computer and it did the vision evaluation on its own. It was amazing. He showed me all the machines and walked me through the whole process. Then a woman from the office went over all the financials, because it is priced according to your vision. She gave me a nice little packet and sent me on my way. No one ever called me to ask me when I was going to make the appointment, nothing like that. And I just did it on my own.

A Little Nervous…
Oh, yeah. I didn’t eat. I was really nervous. The night before, or two nights before, I had to go in for a final consultation with them and I was really nervous. But Dr. Kelly told me I'd be fine and calmed me down. And when I got there, other patients are there and so I got to talk to them. Some people there have already had it done. And we all just bonded.

All right, Let’s Go…
It’s not painful. It’s just scary, and a little uncomfortable. As I was lying there, he talked me through the whole procedure. He was like, "You’re doing great." When it’s over, he tells you to close your eye. When he told me to open my first eye, I went “Oh, my God, I can see." I mean, it was a little blurry, but it was clearer than I was accustomed to. And so when he was ready to do the second eye, I already knew what was in store. So after the first eye, I was like, "All right, let’s go."

I Could See…
The only discomfort I had was when I got home and the light was bright in the kitchen, so I had to go in the living room, where it was a little darker. And then, after a while, it just started to feel like I had sand in my eyes. And then I just took my Tylenol and went to sleep. And when I woke up the next morning, I was like, "This is like really, really weird — I could see." I had the surgery done on a Thursday evening, and when I went to see him on Saturday morning, I had 20/40 vision. And then when I went back maybe a month or so later it was 20/20. And then I just went a couple of weeks ago and it was 20/17.