With aspirin’s power to prevent heart attacks and most strokes come a few risks. These include excess bleeding, damage to the stomach lining, and hemorrhagic stroke – a rare type of stroke in which a blood vessel ruptures and bleeds into the brain. But for most people, aspirin’s benefits outweigh its risks, a point driven home by a study in the December 9, 1998, Journal of the American Medical Association. Read more…
Health
aspirin, blood vessel, cardiovascular
Postoperative day 1
On Saturday, Dec. 20, I awoke at 6 a.m. and carefully opened my eyes. The shields were partially blocking my view. Everything seemed less blurry than last night, but I had to be sure. I quietly worked my way to the window and slowly opened the blinds. I carefully removed the eye shields and looked toward our car. I could read the license place on our car from the second floor of our hotel room! I let out a whoop and quickly put on my pants and boots. I ran outside and looked around me at a beautiful world. Read more…
Vision Correction
pelicans, procedure, provider
Every once in a while, I take a look around, just to double check that I haven’t mysteriously emerged on some weird planet that simply resembles earth.
When I do this, I realize that it certainly looks like earth – but I’m not quite sure it is. After all, what is missing is the simple and basic common sense that I know so many real earthlings have. The place I’m in, which involves this thing known as the Internet, doesn’t seem to have a lot of that stuff – common sense.
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Communication
business, global calls, phone cards
Some pictures were taken with my wife, Terry, and me, and after receiving an encouraging and loving hug from her, I entered the laser room. In my own operating room after hours, I had practiced lying on the Dexta operating table and looking at the lights under the Visx Star, so I was prepared. Betadine (povidone iodine, Purdue Frederick) always smells weird to me, but felt cool and calming. Read more…
Vision Correction
gift, remedy, vision
Wednesday, December 17 was a busy surgery day, with cataracts and intraocular lenses in the morning and LASIK cases in the afternoon. Wearing glasses was not enjoyable; my peripheral vision was constricted and I needed to adjust the operating microscope. We had patients in from Austin, Texas, and Maui, Hawaii, as well as a popular Los Angeles disc jockey. I was thinking about how much pressure eye surgeons face. We cannot afford to have a bad day or an off day, no matter what is going on. By taking time out to have LASIK, I realized I was not only showing my complete confidence in the procedure, I was also betting the farm. Read more…
Vision Correction
gift, relax, surgery
Most everyone now agrees that smoking cigarettes is very harmful. That’s not news. But, because it can take many years for some of the major effects to inflict the body, young people often feel they can go ahead and smoke now and not worry about the consequences until much later.
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Health
nicotine, smoking, smoking cigarettes
For years, I have compiled the features of an ideal procedure, from a patient’s and a doctor’s perspective. These features included safety and effectiveness for almost any range of nearsightedness and astigmatism, ease of the procedure for the doctor and patient, little or no discomfort during or after, quick visual recovery, visual stability, negligible long-term effects, and minimal side effects. The procedure should also be suited to being done bilaterally. LASIK has all these qualifications. My decision was made. Read more…
Vision Correction
astigmatism, myopia, procedure