Looking Up!

Well, the day after the “double vision” incident, I went for my walk without my glasses, wearing only the Solar Shield to protect my eye and to cut out glare. And ten paces down the sidewalk, I was surprised to see all of the outlines of the houses on the street were as sharp as a picture. Even the leaves on the trees had crisp outlines. I couldn’t stop looking up at the rooftops and the trees. I haven’t had such an amazing change in my eyesight since the doctor put my first set of eyeglasses on me when I was seven or eight. I just kept looking and looking, especially up.

When I was in third grade the teacher told my parents she thought I should have my eyes checked because I could not see the blackboard and she had to move me up front so I could copy my lessons. I distinctly remember after I had my new glasses, the first time I saw a robin. Up to that time, I had recognized their song but they were only a blur, and suddenly, with glasses, I saw this beautiful russet-breasted bird and I was thrilled.

In retrospect, my parents and I both remembered the times when my father wanted me to do something for him, and he wondered why I did not, and I told him I could not see what he wanted me to do. I’m not sure he believed me at the time. But my astigmatism and near sightedness meant that I would always wear glass from then on.

I felt I could not deal with contact lenses, even if they were possible for me, so I never asked for them. But a few years after I moved to Kentucky, a clinic in northern Cincinnati was advertising laser surgery of the eye for correction of astigmatism and I made an appointment for an exam and orientation. It was a bitter disappointment when, after my exam, I was told that they would not do laser surgery because I had Fuchs Distrophy. I said, “What’s that?” I’d never heard of it before, but I figured if it was serious enough that they did not want to do surgery on me, I should find out more about it. I started going to an ophthalmologist instead of an optometrist, so that the condition could be monitored.

You know the rest of the story. My ophthalmologist at home was reluctant to recommend cataract removal because of the Fuchs. That’s what brought me to Dr. Lass.

It is hard to believe that I can drive without glasses but I now can see speed limit signs and no-parking signs without them. The names on the street signs are some better; I can probably pick them out a little quicker, but time will tell if that improves. Dr. Lass says I will always need bi-focal glasses because of the astigmatism. He does not recommend implanting bi-focal lenses for persons who may need a corneal transplant, so I will have “standard” lenses put in both eyes and these lenses are for distance. Hence my intriguing sharpness of image in distance- and that is with only one cataract removed. 

I still need my glasses to read or use the computer, or to write this blog. But things are looking up - every day!