I can see!!!!

Story continued from Visionaries

The last two weeks have been hard.  I've heard so many stories of people who for one reason or another don't have the use of one of their eyes and my heart breaks for them!  How they do it, I don't know!  There have been several times when I have gotten frustrated and felt so useless!  I could see enough to read and watch TV only if I had a bandanna covering my bad eye because of the weird blind spot I was experiencing, but it was causing me headaches.  I have had to get rides every where I wanted to go - and thank God people have been there for me to offer those rides!  But I am looking forward to getting behind the wheel of my car, listening to what I want to hear on the radio, and singing at the top of my lungs!

Today, November 16, 2010, my surgery was scheduled for 2:00.  I arrived at the hospital at noon as instructed, registered, and was taken back for surgery right away.  Apparently Dr. Patel was ahead of schedule!

Robert had withdrawn the money for the surgery from Murphy's account yesterday and had already paid my bill.  What a relief and a gift and oh my God I don't have words to express the level of my gratitude!!!

They began by putting a lot of drops in my eyes.  Then I was given an IV.  I began to feel really relaxed.  I thought it was because they had started the anesthesia in the IV, but I found out later they had only given me saline solution to begin with.

I was wheeled into another room and Dr. Patel came to visit me.  I was so excited to see him and talk about the non-profit, but then the nurses began poking and prodding on me, so I told him I should probably tell him more tomorrow.  I was given what I think is called a nasal cannula and told that they would be administering the anesthesia now.  "Oh, you haven't given me that already?" I asked.  I like to think that the reason I was so relaxed is because I was covered in so much prayer.  I'm not even sure I ever even felt the anesthesia, and might doubt that it had been administered except for the fact that Dad had to pull over on the way home because I was about to throw up.

I'm glad I was given something to relax me because the next part was pretty scary.  They draped me in something that I think covered all of my face except for my right eye, and told me to keep my left eye open, and look at the light.  I thought, "What light?"  I couldn't tell for sure if my left eye was open or not and it seemed like a struggle to keep it open.  I could see a box of what looked like light, so I worked hard to look in its direction.  Then I saw lots of colors.  I could feel poking and prodding and pulling on my eyeball and it scared me.  I was gasping under the cover and thinking this might be the longest 10 minutes of my life.  It didn't really hurt, I was just afraid it would. 

Next, I saw a beautiful orange and black lines which I think may have been a liquid pooling in my eye.  Then, I saw what looked like someone making shadow figures of a scalpel on an orange wall.  There was more gasping!  Then, it was over!

"OK, good job," Dr. Patel was saying.  I looked and I saw him!  My next thought was, "Mom's right, he is a really handsome man."

"Oh I can see!!!" I said.  Then I started to cry.  (Those of you who know me will not be surprised by this.)

The nurses and Dr. Patel said that it was great that I could see, because that usually doesn't happen so fast and that it would get better as the day went on.  They said my eye was swollen and as the swelling went down, my vision would improve.  They put a patch on my eye that I think looks like a cheese grater, but smooth, and I can see through the holes.  I have to wear this until my visit with Dr. Patel tomorrow.

We were out of there in no time!  The rain had cleared and when we walked outside I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the sky and leaves on the trees!  I felt great until we got almost home and then I broke out into a sweat all over and asked Dad to pull over...but you don't need those details.

Once home, I laid down and slept for almost 4 hours.  I have 3 different kinds of drops to put in my eyes at different intervals, so I lift up the patch and drop them in and then replace the patch.  My eye looks dilated still.  I hope that's OK!!!

There is little to no pain.  I just feel a little sore around my eye.  All I am taking is Tylenol!

But wait!  There's more!!  I had been worrying about the Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws for this non-profit.  I like to say that I've seen how well attorneys do accounting and I don't think they should do any, and that as an accountant, I probably should not do any lawyering.  The Articles and Bylaws are really a job for a lawyer.  Well, I spoke to a friend tonight who just happens to know an attorney who is in charge of pro-bono work at his firm and is willing to do them for us!!  It's like God wants this thing to happen and I am thrilled!!

It has been a great day!!