Mike Brady Story

Personal history:
Born in Los Angeles, California I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley. I majored in Communication Arts, minored in English at Loyola University of Los Angeles. After four years of Latin in high school, I studied Russian and German in college. Loving music, I played several brass instruments in high school and college. I figured it would be even more fun to get to play all kinds of music on the radio, so I got a spot on the college radio station, KXLU. That started a career I’ve enjoyed ever since.

Professional background:
I have worked at radio stations in Santa Maria, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson and Houston, and of course, Fresno. I spent six years working for SONY Music as a radio promotion manager, covering thirteen Western states. This made for a ton of traveling, but it also provided an opportunity to meet some fascinating people and see a lot of beautiful country.

Hobbies/Interests:
History fascinates me, especially the Second World War. If I weren’t doing what I do now, I’d probably be a high school history teacher. I’ve been interested in aviation since I was a little kid. As for sports, I ‘m a baseball fan and really proud of the Giants this season. I enjoy golf, too, but my biggest love has to be sailing. There’s nothing better than being alone on the tramp of a Hobie Cat, flying a hull with sea spray in your face, listening to the song of wind and water. That is heaven!

MY LASIK EXPERIENCE
I have worn glasses and contacts since high school. But with all of the surgical techniques available now to help people see better, I made some phone calls and decided to pay a visit to the Visalia Eye Center. I scheduled my free and personal consultation with Dr. David Feil. This gave me the opportunity to meet with my surgeon and ask as many questions as I wanted to. If you are serious about safety, you need to choose the right doctor and the right surgery center. Picking the wrong eye doctor for LASER VISION CORRECTION could be a big mistake. Many Doctors rush you through the initial consultation and the procedure. Dr. David Feil is different - he didn’t try to schedule my surgery right away. Instead, he gave me some material and a videotape to look over which explained the LASIK procedure in more detail. Doctor Feil said: “Mike, these are your eyes, so it is YOUR decision. Read the material and think it over. Only when you feel comfortable with your decision, will we schedule your procedure”.

The Preoperative Visit
Before LASIK can be performed, you need a thorough eye examination to ensure that you are an ideal candidate for the procedure. It is very important that you meet the requirements as an ideal candidate. Otherwise you greatly increase the chance for complications or poor results. Most reputable Ophthalmologists will not perform the procedure on anyone who is not an ideal candidate.

The Surgery
On the day of the surgery the staff at the Visalia Eye Center reviewed the procedure with me so that I would know what to expect. When it was time for my procedure, an assistant had me sit down while she put some anesthetic drops in my eyes.

Next, they took me to the operating room. I sat down in a chair, much like the ones you’ll find in a dental office. The chair tilted back and then rotated until my head was under the laser. They had me move my head until I was in the correct alignment with the laser. During the procedure, you can’t close your eyes. But you don’t have to keep your eyes open by sheer force of will. Your eyes are held open by what’s called an eyelid speculum. It’s a small metal device that pushes apart the area just above and below each eye. It wasn’t uncomfortable at all.

Next, they placed a shield over my left eye. Dr. David Feil made a tiny mark on my cornea to indicate proper alignment of the corneal flap when the flap is replaced. The corneal flap is created using a device called a microkeratome. Dr. David used a small suction ring to hold my eye steady and quickly did the cut with the microkeratome. The microkeratome fit onto the suction ring and sliced through the top part of the cornea to create a small flap that could be folded out of the way and then put back in place after the laser was done. Please keep in mind, I could see everything that was happening, but couldn’t feel anything. And I wasn’t worried about the procedure, either, since I trusted Dr. Feil so much. Dr. Feil kept coaching me, telling me I was doing fine, and explaining what he was doing step by step. As soon as Dr. David had folded the corneal flap out of the way, I was told to focus on the red light above me. Then the laser was activated and the procedure carried out while I watched the flashing red light.

The laser was pulsed for 17 seconds. Although that’s not a lot of time, it seems much longer when you are lying there and trying not to move. Once the laser was done, Dr. David replaced the corneal flap and administered a small amount of antibiotic to the flap. The cool thing about the cornea is that it begins to heal and re-bond right away, so there is typically no need for stitches or anything else to hold the flap in place.

As soon as the right eye was done, the shield was removed from my left eye and placed over the right one. The surgery was repeated for the left eye. The entire procedure happened very quickly, taking less than 15 minutes from the moment that I entered the operating room until I was done. There was no pain at all - absolutely none. It was amazing!

Post-Op
The most incredible thing to me was that I could already see! Sure, my vision was a little blurry, but I could already tell that it was much improved from what it had been without glasses. I looked at the clock on the far wall of the surgery room. I’ll never forget the time – 1:26 PM. I was already seeing at a distance without contacts or glasses. This was too cool!

Then they gave me a set of eye shields. These are two clear plastic ovals attached to an elastic band, sort of like swimming goggles. The idea is to keep you from touching your eyes, so your corneal flap can heal. They said to wear those for the rest of the day and to sleep in them that night.

A friend drove me home from the surgical center and I spent a relaxing evening watching TV, flipping back and forth between a baseball game and the History Channel. A guy and his remote – it’s a beautiful thing!

The Day After the surgery
When I woke up the next morning, I could see! Man, could I ever! I checked the time on the digital clock on the night stand and could easily make out the numbers. I turned on the television and watched some early morning news. Best of all, my eyes did not hurt one bit. No itchiness, swelling or even unusual dryness. I was just a little bit sensitive to light, which I expected. So I grabbed some sunglasses and walked out the front door to see what the world looked like through my new eyes. Beautiful! I was reading curb numbers and license plates on my neighbor’s cars up and down the street. I had to remind myself that this was only the beginning – things would get even better over the next few weeks! Dr. Feil told me to expect some blurriness and sensitivity for a couple of weeks as my eyes completely healed.

That morning, I drove myself to Dr. David’s office at the Visalia Eye Center for my first follow-up appointment. They checked my vision to see what the improvement was. My sight was 20/20! Dr. David then checked each eye to make sure that is was healing properly and gave me a clean bill of health. Dr. Feil was happy. I was ecstatic! I left Visalia Eye Center and headed into work, knowing I was going to have a great day.

A month after the surgery
My eyesight continued to improve over the weeks and was now 20/15, even better than normal! Life is good – and looking better all the time.