There was good news at my eye appointment today. The eye surgeon said everything looks fine in my eyes now. The laser surgery improved my angle and he doesn't see any risk of glaucoma. What a relief it was to hear that!
I was under the impression I had glaucoma when they did the surgery a couple of weeks ago, but evidently I was just at great risk for it with that narrow angle for drainage, because of my farsightedness.
It's amazing how your knowledge increases every time you see a doctor like this. In spite of my effort to research glaucoma on my own, only the doctor could give me specific information about my eyes. Even though he attempted to explain the procedures, I still had to ask questions to make my education complete.
And that's how we get our knowledge of spiritual things too. We have to go to the right persons, at the right places, at the right times, and ask the right questions. Deuteronomy 4:29 says "But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul." And it's a life-long pursuit.
Showing posts with label eyes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eyes. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Surgeries Compared
Talk about an easy surgery. Nothing to fear about laser eye surgery, at least the kind I had today. If you can stand drops in your eyes, you can stand having a laser light drill a hole in your iris. It really was nothing, compared to a total spinal fusion, for instance.
The spinal fusion for my scoliosis when I was twelve was so major, they had to do it in two parts too. First the lower back, then the upper. I was flat in bed for a month, followed by six months in a body cast. Fifty years later, I still remember those details. And the pain was almost unbearable right after the surgeries.
So, even though this eye surgery for my narrow angle glaucoma was in two separate parts, one for each eye, I was pleased that the discomfort was minimal. I even drove myself home just an hour later. If it can just keep my glaucoma in check and prevent an acute attack, it seems totally worth it. Just like the spinal fusion has kept my curvature from getting noticeably worse after all these years.
Our conversion stories, how we individuals come to the Lord, are different too. Just like these different surgeries. Depending on the sin to be overcome, the past experiences in our life, and many other variables, all of us have different stories to tell. But whether the pain is little or great, whether the recovery time is short or long, the end result of turning to Christ is all that counts.
When you know you have a sin problem at any point in your Christian walk, take it to the Great Physician. He will know just what kind of surgery you need to be well and whole again.
The spinal fusion for my scoliosis when I was twelve was so major, they had to do it in two parts too. First the lower back, then the upper. I was flat in bed for a month, followed by six months in a body cast. Fifty years later, I still remember those details. And the pain was almost unbearable right after the surgeries.
So, even though this eye surgery for my narrow angle glaucoma was in two separate parts, one for each eye, I was pleased that the discomfort was minimal. I even drove myself home just an hour later. If it can just keep my glaucoma in check and prevent an acute attack, it seems totally worth it. Just like the spinal fusion has kept my curvature from getting noticeably worse after all these years.
Our conversion stories, how we individuals come to the Lord, are different too. Just like these different surgeries. Depending on the sin to be overcome, the past experiences in our life, and many other variables, all of us have different stories to tell. But whether the pain is little or great, whether the recovery time is short or long, the end result of turning to Christ is all that counts.
When you know you have a sin problem at any point in your Christian walk, take it to the Great Physician. He will know just what kind of surgery you need to be well and whole again.
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| sixth grade, in my last cast--second row, I'm the one sitting right in front of the teacher |
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Dropping in on Blindness
I'm still putting in anti-inflammatory eye drops four times daily since my laser eye surgery last Friday, but today I got busy and missed a dose. You wouldn't think it would be so easy to forget since I try to do it around meal time and then once at bedtime. Especially as important as it is to keep down any inflammation in my eyes following the surgery for glaucoma.
It says in the directions to gently close your eyes for five minutes after putting in the drop. Even that has been hard. Sometimes I have purposely tried to continue doing things with my eyes closed, just to see how it would feel if I couldn't see. It's a harsh reminder of how valuable my eyesight is. It's not a welcome thought.
But then it also reminds me of how my mother lost her sight over the course of several years. She was often discouraged about her fate, and I tried to lift her spirits every time I took her to the eye doctor for another useless appointment. Hope kept her going, but it was faith that made her strong.
This topic of blindness always hits me on Tuesdays, the day I volunteer as a book narrator for Christian Record Services. Ironically, my sessions are cut short due to my breathing problems, not my eyesight. But some day, who knows? God has a plan. I'm just here to live it for Him.
It says in the directions to gently close your eyes for five minutes after putting in the drop. Even that has been hard. Sometimes I have purposely tried to continue doing things with my eyes closed, just to see how it would feel if I couldn't see. It's a harsh reminder of how valuable my eyesight is. It's not a welcome thought.
But then it also reminds me of how my mother lost her sight over the course of several years. She was often discouraged about her fate, and I tried to lift her spirits every time I took her to the eye doctor for another useless appointment. Hope kept her going, but it was faith that made her strong.
This topic of blindness always hits me on Tuesdays, the day I volunteer as a book narrator for Christian Record Services. Ironically, my sessions are cut short due to my breathing problems, not my eyesight. But some day, who knows? God has a plan. I'm just here to live it for Him.
Friday, August 31, 2012
"A Word in Due Season"
Not every day you go into a doctor's office, get a diagnosis, have treatment options explained, and head straight for surgery and then home. Unless you are seeing an ophthalmologist (eye doctor) and have laser surgery recommended.
It turns out I indeed do have angle closure glaucoma, not the most common kind of glaucoma, but one that has the potential for real vision loss, if untreated. I had no symptoms, nothing to indicate any risk for it, except that I just turned 60. Those over 60 are six times as likely to have glaucoma, I discovered. But it can occur at any age. Regular eye screenings where they dilate your eyes are often the only way to detect glaucoma, so I'm glad after four years without seeing an eye doctor, I was encouraged to go to a free screening at the local aging agency last spring.
I had actually decided not to go to the free screening that day a few months ago, but Dean's home health nurse was here and she told me to go on and go. So I did, and that set the ball rolling.
God was looking out for me, and He did it through one person, a nurse, who did nothing but say the appropriate word "go".
"And a word spoken in due season, how good it is!" Proverbs 15:23 Help me speak those kind of words, Lord. The words that send others to you, the Great Physician.
It turns out I indeed do have angle closure glaucoma, not the most common kind of glaucoma, but one that has the potential for real vision loss, if untreated. I had no symptoms, nothing to indicate any risk for it, except that I just turned 60. Those over 60 are six times as likely to have glaucoma, I discovered. But it can occur at any age. Regular eye screenings where they dilate your eyes are often the only way to detect glaucoma, so I'm glad after four years without seeing an eye doctor, I was encouraged to go to a free screening at the local aging agency last spring.
I had actually decided not to go to the free screening that day a few months ago, but Dean's home health nurse was here and she told me to go on and go. So I did, and that set the ball rolling.
God was looking out for me, and He did it through one person, a nurse, who did nothing but say the appropriate word "go".
"And a word spoken in due season, how good it is!" Proverbs 15:23 Help me speak those kind of words, Lord. The words that send others to you, the Great Physician.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
That True Light
Today I had to go in for another field vision test, so the ophthalmologist could know how to treat my glaucoma. This particular test was different from the others I did. With one eye wearing a patch, you looked at this little light and clicked a button every time you saw a flash, just a small pinpoint of light anywhere away from the light you were focused on. But I found it very hard not to avert my eyes to where the tiny flashes were coming from.
As I walked back to my car, I thought more about that difficult test and how it is so much like us to find it hard to keep our eye on Christ. Those little distracting flashes are so easy to look at, taking our eyes off "that true Light that lighteth every man that cometh in the world." John 1:9
As I walked back to my car, I thought more about that difficult test and how it is so much like us to find it hard to keep our eye on Christ. Those little distracting flashes are so easy to look at, taking our eyes off "that true Light that lighteth every man that cometh in the world." John 1:9
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Connecting the Dots
Several days ago my daughter asked if she left her wire-rimmed eyeglasses at my house. She seemed to think they were left on my dining room table. I told her I remembered seeing them there, but that they weren't there now, so maybe she left them somewhere else. Of course, I said I'd keep looking for them around the house.
A day or so later, Dean announced that he wasn't wearing his newest prescription glasses. He couldn't find them, so was wearing an old pair he had. This has happened before, so I didn't pay much attention at the time. All his wire-rimmed glasses look about the same to me.
Then last night Dean said he couldn't find even the old pair he was wearing, so I made a search around his recliner, which has a reputation for swallowing up his lost objects. There near it on the floor was a pair of eyeglasses. As I picked them up, they looked familiar. I asked Dean if he was sure they were his, because they looked very similar to Kayla's glasses. Of course, he wasn't sure about anything, even whether he had first found them on the table.
I couldn't hold Dean accountable for "stealing" glasses, but I sure felt like a fool myself for not connecting the dots sooner. Here I had been looking all over for Kayla's glasses, even asking for Dean's assistance, and all along the glasses were right in front of our noses. And literally ON Dean's nose!
How many people search for God all their lives, when He's as close to them as a pair of eyeglasses--sitting majestically right in front of their eyes?
A day or so later, Dean announced that he wasn't wearing his newest prescription glasses. He couldn't find them, so was wearing an old pair he had. This has happened before, so I didn't pay much attention at the time. All his wire-rimmed glasses look about the same to me.
Then last night Dean said he couldn't find even the old pair he was wearing, so I made a search around his recliner, which has a reputation for swallowing up his lost objects. There near it on the floor was a pair of eyeglasses. As I picked them up, they looked familiar. I asked Dean if he was sure they were his, because they looked very similar to Kayla's glasses. Of course, he wasn't sure about anything, even whether he had first found them on the table.
I couldn't hold Dean accountable for "stealing" glasses, but I sure felt like a fool myself for not connecting the dots sooner. Here I had been looking all over for Kayla's glasses, even asking for Dean's assistance, and all along the glasses were right in front of our noses. And literally ON Dean's nose!
How many people search for God all their lives, when He's as close to them as a pair of eyeglasses--sitting majestically right in front of their eyes?
Monday, July 30, 2012
The "Eyes" Have It
Monday is my phone call day. Even though I know it is one of the hardest days to reach people, it just seems like the need to call falls heaviest after the weekend. I think all weekend of who I need to call and even make a list most of the time. It's a relief when all the calls have been made.
One call I made today though was not very relieving. I found out from the optometrist that I very likely do have glaucoma in one of my eyes and will be seeing an eye surgeon soon to determine if I need to treat it with drops.
This discovery prompted me to make another call. To one of my cousins who I thought might know who in my family may have had glaucoma. I knew my great uncle was blind because of it, but wasn't sure who else had the diagnosis. Turns out a couple of aunts and cousins have also been treated with it, so I was consoled that all of them had success in treating it with eye drops. I was relieved with the extra knowledge from my cousin Willa in Omaha. Thank you, Willa, for your comforting information.
I have just one more call to make before bedtime. That call to my heavenly Father with a special thanks to Him for giving me peace in the midst of my daily storms.
One call I made today though was not very relieving. I found out from the optometrist that I very likely do have glaucoma in one of my eyes and will be seeing an eye surgeon soon to determine if I need to treat it with drops.
This discovery prompted me to make another call. To one of my cousins who I thought might know who in my family may have had glaucoma. I knew my great uncle was blind because of it, but wasn't sure who else had the diagnosis. Turns out a couple of aunts and cousins have also been treated with it, so I was consoled that all of them had success in treating it with eye drops. I was relieved with the extra knowledge from my cousin Willa in Omaha. Thank you, Willa, for your comforting information.
I have just one more call to make before bedtime. That call to my heavenly Father with a special thanks to Him for giving me peace in the midst of my daily storms.
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