can’t breathe. cranky.

My nose has all along been overly sensitive. During a 12-hour flight to Europe with my family, I used SIX tissue packets because my bloody nose wouldn’t stop freaking running and I couldn’t stop sneezing. I would have used more, too, but we’d only brought six onto the plane with us and I couldn’t afford to keep running to the toilet to blow my nose and use the toilet paper to wipe my nose with, so I had to keep re-using the used tissues.

Each packet has 10 tissues so that was 60 tissues in total and NO I am not exaggerating. When I flew to Europe with B, again I used as many tissues. And even when we landed in Europe where it was slightly colder, about air-con temperature, it took my nose a few days to adapt and I had to keep using tissues throughout the days. It’s ****** annoying.

Sometimes, my nose just acts up and it’s like I have a “one-day flu”. My nose just keeps running and filling up with mucus and I end up using ONE WHOLE BOX of tissues in a day. Most “normal” people use one  box of tissues in the span of 3 months, like my parents and sister. Not me, not with my nose. I can use one in a DAY because of my frickin’ stupid nose.

It’s also why I had so much difficulties breathing – or should I say wasn’t able to breathe at all – after my jaw surgery. Sinus problems worsened by 100 times in the aftermath.

And now, my nose is acting up again. I haven’t been able to sleep the last few nights because I couldn’t bloody breathe. Nose keeps getting blocked, doesn’t matter if I lie on my back or on my side or whatever, the right side of my nose is just blocked. There’s this huge lump in my nostril (that sometimes is so small I can’t feel it but other times so huge) and whenever it’s especially big I have such a hard time breathing through that nostril. These past few days I’ve been lying in my bed for three hours and not being able to fall asleep because I can’t breathe -.-

Also it forces me to breathe through my mouth sometimes at night which I HATE. Wake up with a scratchy and sore throat. Frickin’ nose. Annoyed because I haven’t been able to sleep well for a week now. Dark eye circles are getting worse fml. I go to bed at 11pm and only end up falling asleep at 1am or even later. And keep waking up throughout the night because of my damn bloody nose.

I would really like one night of being able to sleep and breathe properly. Somehow I doubt tonight will be the night.

 

I know I’ve said it a million times but DAMN I’M SO HAPPY THAT I HAD JAW SURGERY DONE. It took about 2 months before I could see the actual results but IT WAS ALL WORTH IT! My phone keeps running out of space cos I can’t stop taking zi lian photos HAHAHA.

I HAD MY BRACES REMOVED!!

As the title says. WOOOOOOOOOO. Anyway, this is actually the second time I wore braces (and had them removed). I don’t remember the first time hurting, but this time when my orthodontist was taking them off it did hurt D: And I felt really weird afterwards, as if there was a layer of film covering my teeth.

Just in time, too. Since I’ll be flying off to Canada for my exchange and I really wanted my braces off before then. I can finally eat whatever I want without worrying about food getting stuck in my braces WOOOOO.

It’s been more than 5 months, and less than 6, since my jaw surgery in January. :’) I’ve actually kept a photo album of selfies I’d taken before and after surgery… because while I never liked the way I looked pre-surgery, I don’t want to forget. If I ever get down and hating the way I look now again, I can always look back in the album and remember what it was like before and appreciate what I have now. Also…. I have SO MANY selfies taken post-op LOL, and really very few taken pre-op. I was never a selfie kind of person because I hated the way I looked in photos and in the mirror. But since the op I’ve taken a tonnnnn of selfies cause I still can’t believe the change :’)

 

My Lasik Experience!!

I actually had Lasik done about two weeks ago on 20th June, but I was too lazy to make a blog post about it earlier.

I never liked the inconvenience of wearing glasses. Go swimming or take a bath, I feel blind without my glasses on my face. Step out of the bus or a cold room, and my glasses are all fogged up. Drink a cup of hot beverage and my glasses get fogged up. Walk in the rain and my glasses are splattered with water droplets. The list goes on.

And I knew I always wanted to get Lasik done… as soon as I was old enough and my eyesight had stabilized.

Allergic Conjunctivitis and Lasik

So I was fortunate enough to be born with really sensitive, allergic eyes. When I was younger, during my primary and secondary school days, good god it was awful. I would wake up in the mornings with my eyes literally glued shut with eye mucus, and I would have to stumble to the bathroom blind (with my mum’s help) and put my face under running water for a few minutes before I could open my eyes.

And once I had my eyes open, well… they would be really, really RED and 1/4 the size of my eye’s usual size. Swollen, puffy, red, itchy. It always felt as if there was something in my eye, and no amount of blinking or washing my face would make the feeling disappear. I would go to school in the mornings with my head down, doing my best to avoid any eye contact because I didn’t want to scare anyone with my swollen, red eyes.

Long story short, I finally met a doctor who was able to help me. He said I had some sort of condition (I forgot the medical term for it, but I googled and I’m pretty sure it’s allergic conjunctivitis… a very severe case of it); basically my eye could be allergic to anything, even the dust in the air, and that there was no way to prevent the redness but that I could treat the redness and swollenness once it occurred. He prescribed me eyedrops… AMAZING stuff which actually did the trick!! Over time my eye condition improved and I could wake up in the mornings with “normal” eyes, without them being red or swollen shut or full of mucus. Of course, it’s not completely cured… even now, sometimes I wake and my eye is slightly red. But it’s WAY, WAY, WAY better than it was during my primary and secondary school days.

This is also why I was never able to wear contact lenses and why I never even tried getting contact lenses. Asked my doc if it was okay for me to wear contact lenses for just one evening, and he shook his head and advised me against it… and so I wore my glasses even to prom night.

Omg that was a long story. I tend to ramble. But anyway the point is, while I was eager to get Lasik done and say goodbye to my glasses, I was afraid it would cause my eye allergies to flare up again. Just thinking back to those days, waking up with eyes glued shut, I cringe. The Lasik consultant and my doctor both assured me it was fine, that I could go ahead with Lasik, but I still had that niggling worry in the back of my mind. Anyway, I ended up going ahead with it.

Lasik Assessment

I had Lasik done at Eagle Eye Center (EEC). Had to book an appointment for an assessment first to determine if I was a suitable candidate for Lasik. Basically had lots of eye tests done. Also I went on a Saturday morning and it was really crowded, I felt like my consultant and doctor were both rushing for time. It was just really rushed and didn’t leave a good impression on me.

I was told that my corneas were pretty thick (thicker than the average), but I had pretty high astigmatism in one eye.

The Procedure

This happened two days after my assessment. Again, it was fast. I was ushered into a room where a nurse prepped me. She cleaned the area around my eyes, put lots of eyedrops in my eye. Then after that I was whisked into the operating room itself, where my doctor smiled and said hi and had me lie on the table.

And then he started the procedure. It was all a blur. Like really, it went so fast. I didn’t even have the chance to speak when I went in. It was just, okay hi come here lie down shift your body to the right okay let’s begin.

It didn’t exactly hurt but it wasn’t completely painless either. The worst part was when he was using some suction thing on my eye. You know those cookie cutters used to shape dough? Well, it felt like my eye was the dough and he was pressing down on it. And after that was done they whisked me up and turned me to face a camera and told me to smile so they could take a photo of my doctor and I.

Oh yeah, my left eye (the eye that’s more sensitive and allergic) was red and smaller in size after the procedure. Thankfully it went back to being its normal size and the redness went away after a while, and the next day when I woke up in the morning my eyes weren’t red too.

One Week Post-Lasik

Vision still wasn’t perfect. My right eye could see things clearer… Colors were sharper and brighter compared to when I used my left eye. Doc said it would improve with time. Also, I see halos around lights. But that’s not much of an issue. Again, doc says this should improve with time.

Oh, also on the second day post-op I accidentally rubbed at the corner of my right eye while I was sleeping. Idk how, but the googles I wore to bed were no longer on my face when I woke up and I realized, half-awake, that I was rubbing at the corner of my eye… that freaked me out! Fortunately I didn’t displace the flap or anything.

Now

My vision has improved, I think. Colors and objects still seem a little more dull and less sharp when I use my left eye, but it’s better than before. Still experiencing halos. Too lazy to type more for now, so BYE. ;D