Robot Hoover: Neato Review one year on…

Hoovering is probably our less preferred chore when it comes to cleaning.  I absolutely hate hoovering and having to lift and move furniture around just to get into those tight spaces.

I’ve often tried to pass off the hoovering chore to another member of the household but to no avail.  Last May, the better half received a bonus and what better way to spend it than on a robotic hoover.

I have had my eye on these ever since seeing them at a home exhibition such as Grand Designs and Ideal Home Show in London.  They seem to have a mind of their own and move around as if they know where they are going.  The first ones I saw was a Roomba until I came across Neato at a friend’s house.  They recommended so we bought it.

The Neato isn’t exactly cheap but its latest model features a hoover, side brush and larger bin capacity.  I have used it for a year now and they are still functioning very well.

We chose the Neato Botvac 85 as after watching some demonstrations online, it seems to follow a more logical pattern of cleaning, it zigzags through the place; whereas a Roomba takes any old random route to get the job done.

Initially I was skeptical and thought it would just be an expensive gimmick which we won’t do the job.  I can honestly say it does the job and I have not hoovered in a year (no joke!).  We live in a flat and are relatively tidy people.  I have to say it struggles on carpets (especially long pile) and if you leave wires and clothes it will get stuck.  It is a bit noisy and will take odd cleaning patterns e.g. clean half a room before leaving to clean elsewhere and will return to finish off the room.  It was totally amazing we already have a powerful hoover but it struggled to prise all the hair out of the carpets in the bedroom. I would often crawl all over the carpet floor to pull as many chunks of hair as possible but never managed to get it all out.  The Neato went in and with its brushes teased and pulled out all the hair that was matted into the carpet from two years ago.  I was impressed!!

We found the bins were enough to hold all the dust from our two bedroomed flat.  You will have to empty it after every use and clean out the brushes as if you are like me with long hair, it will pick it all up and you have to pull it away from the brushes.  Once finished it will find it’s way back to it’s charging base and if it runs out of battery half way through it will return to it’s charging base to charge up before returning to the same place to finish the job.

Other than that it has really changed my life and I am eagerly waiting for Neato Robotics to come up with one that will clean the floors.  In love with this machine!

One month check up

I went for my 1 month check up this weekend.  My right eye has caught up with my left, it has been slow progress but I found that with other things going on in my life, I’ve forgotten about my surgery and often had to remind myself not to take my new vision for granted.

I did an eye test and found I could read all the way down to the 20/20 line! I managed to read at least 3/4 characters.  They weren’t all clear as day but I could see enough to make out what they were.  The ‘s’ however, just looked like an ‘o’ or a ‘d’ or a ‘g’… I was shocked when the optometrist said it was an ‘s’ and many people got it wrong also. *phew*

She said it was early days still with my eyes and there may be more changes to come but the difference between my left and right is now marginal.  I have almost perfect vision! 🙂

The blurring and dryness in the evenings have now died down alot, my eyes feel a lot less irritable now and I barely ever use eye drops.  The halos around lights have also reduced and there is no sensitivity to light now.

Anyway, I am now free to go swimming and can rub my eyes! I want to at least go swimming at some point to take advantage of how much I can see vs without my glasses.  Before I couldn’t even recognise people or find my way into the changing rooms and had to be guided.  I can’t even imagine the freedom I will now have!

My next check up will be in three months time. Until then! 🙂

Some sad news…

Almost two weeks have passed since my surgery. The redness in my eyes are fading and vision still fluctuates betweens sometimes blurry, sometimes not. Night time vision is better now but it still gets blurry towards end of night when I start to feel tired and around bright lights when driving around.

I received some bad news two days ago that a member of my family is in a critical condition in hospital and we have been told to prepare for the worst. I have been so tearful over the past two days, I’ve had to be careful when wiping my eyes not to rub them too hard or to get flakes of tissue in them. My head has been pounding all day I thought it was caused by my vision but I realized that Its a tension headache as I am so tense at the moment.

The next 24-48 hours are critical for her as we don’t what will happen. The only updates I get is through other members of my family as I live miles away. The thought of the possibility of no longer having her around is so heartbreaking. The thought of someone dying to me means they no longer exist, body, mind, soul and conscience gone forever and that thought is so devastating. I was never brought up with a religion so life after death doesn’t resonate with me…just science.

I’m hoping she will find the strength and will power to make it through but we’ve been told that if she does, she will be paralyzed and in pain. I really don’t know what to think. To me having someone around is better then them gone forever. We will do whatever we can to ensure the rest of her life will be in as much comfort as possible.

One week check up

Had my one week check up on Saturday. The ophthalmologist took surface scans of my cornea… good news is they are smooth and I am astigmatism free! They also looked into the back of my eyes and at the flap then took a measurement with the autorefractor.  The flap has healed and set in it’s original place.  I did ask what my prescription was – thinking I would get an idea at this stage but he said that it was still too early to say as my eyes are still healing.  I’ve been stupidly telling my colleagues and friends that I would know what I am so now I have to sheepishly go back and say that I was abit too eager and there was no point in finding out as it *could* change by the end of the month.  So another appointment has been made for a month’s time.

The strange thing is he did say that he thinks I won’t have a residual prescription afterall but when I talked about donating my glasses, he said to keep them! My right eye is slow in making progress than my left eye, result is, things are blurrier through that eye but when trying on my bf’s glasses (he is -1.75) I found that I could see clearer when I tried them on. Yet at the appointment, the ophthalmologist put a -0.75 lens on the right eye and when I said it made no difference, he said it is likely that I am below that i.e. a -0.5 or less.  From experience the sight is clear and warped if you are overcorrected with a high power lens but still weak and with little difference if undercorrected… strange!

Still I won’t complain cos I can see brilliantly.  Dry eyes are going and I find that I need drops less and less.  I have been told to stop using the steroid drops and given another bottle of artificial tears but I only need them once or twice a day.  Halos are appearing smaller, but the blurriness and halos tend to get worse towards the end of the evening, if the atmosphere is dry and my eyes are tired.  It doesn’t matter how much I use the drops, it doesn’t help it unless I go to sleep, which was annoying when I was half way through a film.

Mid week eye update

After surgery for the first few days my vision felt great. My vision this week has been fluctuating. Today the right has blurred a bit. It feels like prescription blur as opposed to healing and dryness blurring. Its got a me a bit worried as I was secretly hoping for perfect vision. Sadly this might not be the case. The left eye is pretty clear though. 

I think I can expect fluctuations in my first week of healing though. 

I tried on my bf glasses. He is -1.75 and -3 and my vision became clearer when I looked through the -1.75 lens of his glasses but felt over corrected from the -3 lens. I reckon my assessment at end of first week will be around -1 left eye and poss -1.75 right eye. But we shall leave this to the experts!

24 hours check up

Most of the blurriness had cleared up the next day. I went in for my 24 hours check up and my flap had set back into place. The bandage lenses were removed and I was given lubricating drops.

For the rest of the week I will be using the antiseptic drops four times a day and lubricating drops when they are dry.

I was already out and about yesterday and visited a friends for dinner. My eyes are still bruised, more prominently on the left side but that should apparently clear up. I am back at work tomorrow and really hope my colleagues won’t be distracted by my eyes being bloodshot.

Vision is clearer today but I see halos around lights both during the day and night. They can get pretty annoying but I had minor versions anyway pre-op.

Really enjoying the fact that I can now see when going to bed, waking up, showering. Last night I was able to lie in bed on my side to watch TV and not have the arm of my glasses dig into me or have my vision skewered by the lenses moving to the side. I am looking forward to being able to wake up for work and not have to mess about putting painful contacts in. Always a bonus! My head hasn’t quite registered that I don’t need glasses anymore and I keep catching myself thinking I’ve got contacts on! Its a pleasant surprise when I realise again that I haven’t! 🙂

Surgery Day!l

I started off my day at 6am where I showered and made sure my hair was washed and cleaned (they recommend you clean your face and shower before the appointment).  I had a light breakfast and some coffee and then left for my 9.30 appointment.

At the clinic, the staff all seem to know me by name and came over to chat to me.  They are really friendly, excellent customer service and made me feel at home.  I arrived early (by 30 mins) and didn’t have to wait long before I was taken in for corneal surface scans before being escorted back to the waiting room and then for my eye test.  After that, I was back in the waiting room scoffing away on some of my favourite chocolates from nerves – they say chocolate is calming!

I saw a lady before me go into the surgery room and became anxious.  After some time had passed, I saw her re-emerge from the surgery room with red eyes.  I was then called in…

I had a short chat with the surgeon and the second in command about what I hope to achieve from my surgery.  They assured me that they would do the best within the safety limits, which meant that I would possibly be left with a prescription.  After signing the consent form, they gave me a hair net and shoe covers and I was lead into the surgery room.

I lay down on the flat bench and they positioned the laser above my face, at this moment in time my heart was beating so hard and legs were trembling, I was thinking, “What are you doing?” and wanted to sit up and cancel or at least ask for a moment to calm down.  i remembered that i wouldn’t feel a thing and just bit my lip.  They cleaned around my eyes and eye lid before putting numbing drops in and we waited for a while.  Covering my left eye, the surgeon started with my right and clamped it open.  I dreaded this part a bit but it was surprisingly ok, it didn’t feel comfortable to me.  Next a ring to cut the flap was placed on my eye, I only felt the vibration but no pain and my vision went milky.  Next I saw several things go in and out my eye before the laser started to work and yes the burning smell is prominent! I have had IPL hair reduction before and smelt burning but this is proper pungent!  After that he replaced the flap and cleaned it out with what felt like a bucket of saline solution.  During all this time I was told to keep focusing on the green light.  I have seen many youtube videos where people say that the flashing green becomes clear after the flap is replaced but I feel that way.

Next was my left eye…this time when the suction ring went on it did feel really uncomfortable and I think I was involuntarily struggling a bit.  Once the surgery was over I could see! It was amazing!! BEfore with my -8 astigmatic eyes, I could not see a thing or make anything out unless it was about 2-3 inches away from my face.  My vision was hazy, more like someone rubbed their super greasy thumbs over my glasses.

I rested outside for about a few minutes before being seen for a final check up.  I was given drops to put in every hour, which I have set a timer on my phone.  It’s annoying but necessary.  I also have to spend as much of the evening resting as possible.

When the drops wore off on the train home, my right eye in particular stung like mad.  IT felt like the mornings when I put my contacts in before my eyes were ready for them and got dirt trapped in between.  It was like that but 10 times worse and I’ve even up with a minor migraine.  It felt that way and watered a lot for the next two hours and now it feels fine.

There is significant bruising on my sclera, my left eye in particular but then I struggled more with the suction ring on that eye.  There are some minor fuzz as most has worn off and halos around the lights.

I can see the benefits and vast improvements this has given me but it has yet to sink in as in my mind it just feels like a contacts day.

Tomorrow I have my day after appointment, we will get an indication of what my prescription is!

Last night as a spectacled person!

… Or hopefully as a spectacle and contact dependant person.

I aim to sleep early so I can get up and have a shower as I can’t shower for two days.

Hope all goes well!

T-2 days until big day!

Cannot believe how fast time has travelled since I booked my surgery.  There was about 6 weeks left and now I’m down to two days.  It’s my week off work and I can’t believe I woke up at work time…must be playing on my subconscious!

I’ve been worried about what prescription I would have left following the surgery as I have a high prescription and whether it would stop me from being able to go into work the following Monday but they assured me it would be ok.  I should be able to do normal close up work but may struggle distance-wise e.g. seeing the bus number.  That should be ok as there are only two buses that stop at my stop and they both go to my workplace. It is just coming back that may be an issue as the stop at work has several buses stopping there.

I’ve also been thinking about how my family will take it, whether they will be angry I didn’t tell them and whether they will get petty over it.  I hope it is fine but I will tell them the first instance it is done.  I accept it is a big decision but I want to be sure in my own head that this is what I want to do without outside influences putting me off.  I would also rather it just be me worrying about it rather than them too.

My surgery shall be in the morning, I will be up at the crack of dawn on the morning to shower as they advised, do any dusty/heavy duty tasks before I sign the weekend off to resting.  It is also CNY as well and several friends are getting together for heavy duty eating and I’m not sure if I will be well enough to go outside!

Anyway, the next time I write will probably be a post-op update… or a last minute panic!

12 Days to go!

Almost time for my surgery but first I have booked a load of activities to distract my mind…

This week I will be heading to Paris to spend Valentine’s with TOH before returning and attending some evening courses. Then it will be my surgery!

I won’t be able to wash until the next day so it will be a bit strange given that I shower and wash my hair every day.  If I don’t my hair goes super greasy.

Thoughts and worries are running through my head such as how long Will I have before it regresses? I still have 2 days cancellation when I can get the full deposit back! Must stay strong and positive!