9 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
It was in the early winter month of December 2019 that I sense that something wasn't right about my vision. It was December 22 that I decided to close one eye and look out the other. Nothing wrong with the right eye, but when I closed my right eye and looked out my left I could see that a curtain was blocking off half of that visual field. I told my wife this news and she agreed to contact the eye department at the Fairview Fridley clinic to get me in. Fortunately, they always keep openings for these types of emergency cases and so we hopped in the car with my wife driving me to my appointment.
As she drove my mind drifted back a few decades ago when my dad has his eye problem. His wasn't as successful and the two operations to reattach the retina were unsuccessful. For obvious reasons I had misgivings about this trip. Hoping that it was simply a cataract that was blocking my vision, the eye doctor said that it was a detachment of my left retina that was causing the visual problem.
As I sat in the exam room, this doctor went to work to find someone willing to see me. After it seemed like forever, he came back and said that he found a retina specialist willing to see me this afternoon at the Phillips eye institute. The doctor I saw was Abdhish R. Bhavsar, M.D, a world known retina specialist who teaches others how to do the highly successful procedure.
My wife and I grabbed a quick lunch before heading over to the Phillips eye institute to see if he can helped me. Not only could he help me, but he said that he could do the re-attachment surgery on December 24th, Christmas eve. This, of course, would put a damper on the way Christmas would be done this year, but I was grateful that I found not just a doctor, but a world known specialist who teaches others of this technique and who was available on a holiday!
My wife drove me to the eye institute early the next morning where I nervously sat before my name was called. I remember my wife praying for me just before going in for the pre-surgery preparations. I had no choice but to trust God for the outcome.
Trusting was tough when it seemed like yesterday that my daughter Maria died following her orthopedic surgery when the pain medicine failed to metabolize in her system. But, I had no choice but to believe that God will use this doctor to heal me. Eventually, the rolling gurney I was laying on was wheeled into the operating room where I laid as the sedation was slowly entering my veins making me sleepy, but not totally asleep as I needed to be semi-conscious.
The entire procedure was about 3 hours and when it was all done I had a patch over the left eye with questions floating in my mind "would I ever see again?" We came home and I had help climbing the stairs to the living room where I sat in a special eye chair that allowed me to keep my face down or the first 3 days. My son and daughter-in-law, my sister and brother came over to help celebrate the birth of Christ. It was a strange way of celebrating Christmas for all I could see were peoples shoes. I remarked to my wife that the person with the prettiest shoes was my son's wife.
On December 25, Christmas day I returned to the Phillips eye institute for my first post op appointment. He slowly unwrapped the gauze and examined the eye of which he proclaimed the operation a success. Most of us have this view of medicine that instantaneous results will soon occur, but not so. They had placed a oil bubble which compresses the retina better and in the long run does better than simply putting a gas bubble in place. I was prescribed several eye drops of which I was to put into the eye for several months. My sight was blurry out of that left eye and the doctor reminded me that his first concern was to make sure the retina is healed before advancing to the remaining surgeries.
In January 2020 I saw my primary doctor where I learned that my blood glucose was much higher than it should and suggested that I take Metformin, a diabetes medication. I found in my research that there is a strong connection between diabetes and eye problems. What I didn't know at the time was the connection between unchecked diabetes and dying from the corona virus which was still off somewhere in the jungles of China.
The more I read, the more I realized that I needed to do something about my weight and so I made a commitment to exercise on my Schwinn Air-dyne bike, first 3 times a week and then every night. As my weight dropped so did the glucose levels and I saw in addition improvement to my eye sight. Originally, there were plans on taking out the oil bubble bubble in March or April, but then the surge in corona virus cases happened and the sudden closure of the Phillips eye institute by converting it to a overflow hospital.
I had to wait a few more months which wasn't all bad as it gave my eye more time to heal. Finally in June 2020 I was given clearance to undergo the second eye operation to take out the oil bubble and replace with the gas bubble. After the oil was taking out I immediately saw improvement. I no longer had that sinking feeling whenever I got up quicker than I should. My vision was better, but still distorted.
It was explained to me that my vision probably won't improve until the cataract surgery was done. He would refer me to a cataract specialist. Hence, I was referred to me Dr. Christia Lilley at the Fairview Fridley eye clinic.
My surgery was scheduled on November 2nd, one day before the Presidential election which meant I couldn't fulfill my duties as the head judge. I, of course, had to be tested for Covid-19 before the procedure could be done at the U of MN. I tested negative and the surgery was on. The surgery was scheduled very early on a Monday and once my name was called my surgery took 45 minutes to complete. As she explained, my cataract was rather dense and she needed to use 'sonic waves' to remove it. In the process, the cornea was traumatized, but she wasn't worried because based on her clinical experience it will heal. I began noticing major improvements in my left eye vision approximately 2 days after the surgery. The second procedure for the right eye was scheduled for November 16th. This was a much easier procedure where I saw drastic improvement in my vision. For the first time since I was a kid I'm able to do close up work without glasses. On my recent post op eye exam I was told that I will likely only need a light prescription. As far as the slight blurriness in my left eye vision, she said that they can do a taser procedure in the office that will miraculously restore the central visual field .
Through it all, I discovered that even thought we struggle with all of the bad things happening in this world, God is truly in the miracle business. He often works through the hands and feet of the medical professionals. I learned that we also have personal responsibility of taking care of ourselves by knowing our numbers from the A1c to the high blood pressure to our cholesterol levels and also engaging in regular exercise so those numbers can be better regulated.
Finally, I've learned in my journey that we must never abandon God, but instead we ought to draw Him close to us in our prayer life and our worship.
Yes, God still is in the miracle business!
