"I was blind, and could not see..."

When I began this journey 10 years ago, I was facing blindness. That is not a very positive future for one who loves to read and see all of God's creations with my eyes as well as my heart. I was diagnosed with Fuch's Distrophy (a progressive disease to the corneas that causes them to thicken, and thus cloud over, eventually causing blindness.) My grandfather on my dad's side may have had that disease, but no one knew what it was back then. He was blind in his older years.

There is no cure for this condition. The only treatment is Cornea Transplant. I chose to take that road in 2002, when I had my first surgery. That transplant was anything but successful. First, my eye did not like the surgery and reacted by producing excessively high intraoccular pressure that destroyed 1/3 of my optic nerve in my right eye, thus rendering me with partial blindness anyway in that eye. Next, the high pressure also caused my lense to go completely white (a cataract) and had to be removed with a new lens implanted in a second surgery.

As if all of that wasn't enough, another result of the high pressure caused my pupil to enlarge and the edge of my iris stuck to the new cornea, which makes it impossible for my pupil to contract. Thus, a third surgery was done to try and release that scar tissue. It didn't work.

Lastly, my cornea began to reject, due to a herpes simplex virus (I have a long history of cold sores, and that virus travels the nerve paths to the eyes) that made my entire cornea become thick and opaque. That is the condition of my right eye that I have accepted and lived with now for 8 years.

Less than one year after my right eye surgery was done, my left eye began to thicken so badly that I had to retire from working because I could no longer see clearly, and being a Nurse, one needs her eyes to see! I was a danger to my patients, and so I chose to retire. My Opthalmalogist knew of a surgeon in Portland that did a relatively new procedure called a DLEK (simply put, instead of removing the entire thickness of the cornea, only the inner layer is removed and replaced with a donor's inner layer. It is very complex, and no 100% results were guaranteed.) I opted to try that surgery.

On the day of my 4th surgery (first on my left eye) I was apprehensive, to say the least. After much prayer, I felt better, though the outcome wasn't predicted to be the best because of my past history. This eye could have also reacted and gone sour, and then blindness would be an instant result. I figured, "What the heck, either way I will be blind", so I went for it. Prayers were answered and the results were that I have been given back the sight in my left eye. It has served me well without any ill effects for 7 years now.

On Tuesday of next week, I will go under the little itty-bitty knife yet another time. My right eye has been causing me considerable pain over the past year or two, progressing to almost unbearable. So I am going to have that old, dead cornea replaced with a new one. Dr. Terry will clean up the scar tissue while he is doing the surgery, and put a running stitch around the edges of my iris to bring my pupil back to mid-point. This surgery will not bring back the vision I have lost due to the loss of a crucial part of my optic nerve, but perhaps some of my outer peripheral vision will return. There are many prayers going out in my behalf, and I am confident that I will be blessed.

This has been an interesting journey for me and for my family. Many blessings have come to me because of this condition. I have been so grateful for the vision that I have been given. You just don't really appreciate it until you face losing it. I read like crazy. I have turned to writing, both literature and music. I have resumed my career and have been so blessed with good health to do the things that I love to do. I have returned to taking piano lessons and love it. For all of these things and more, I give thanks.

And so the journey continues.