Janet's Blog

Mom and I shared more than one eye disease. Because of our eye conditions and the resulting surgeries, we were both destined to wear ugly sunglasses for the rest of our lives. We both needed the kind that fit over our regular glasses and blocked out the light from the side as well as the front. We used to wear the really ugly, oversized kind that was distributed by ophthalmologists everywhere, because that's all that was available. In recent years, though, Walmart and a few other stores have carried a larger variety for the people like us who need specific sunglasses. My grandkids love the "jewels" that often adorn every available pair. Because the light really hurt her eyes when she wasn't wearing sunglasses outside, Mom always had multiple pairs: one pair in the car, one in her purse, one on the counter near the back door, and a spare for when she couldn't find the pair she was looking for. All of hers were black, without any extra adornment, but in recent year...

I passed a padiddle today. It's a real word, you know, a satisfying word that bursts from my mouth at just the right time-- padiddle , a North American slang word for a vehicle with a burned out headlight. Bill introduced me to padiddles before we were married, loudly shouting out the word as we drove, startling me enough that I jumped in my seat and croaked, "What???" He enlightened me right away, wondering aloud why I had never before heard of a padiddle. Then, he took his explanation a step further, as he outlined the finer points of the road game that has evolved, with points being tallied as passengers compete to see who can spy the most padiddles on a road trip. It's inevitable that all drivers will encounter their fair share of padiddles as they drive at night. Cars that are forced to navigate with only one working headlight become driving hazards, sometimes mistaken for motorcycles, or missed altogether, until they are close enough to reveal their true ide...

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone I can see all obstacles in my way Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind It's gonna be a bright, bright, sun-shiny day. I think I can make it now, the pain is gone All of the bad feelings have disappeared Here is the rainbow I've been prayin' for It's gonna be a bright, bright, sun-shiny day. Look all around, there's nothin' but blue skies Look straight ahead, nothin' but blue skies... Johnny Nash, 1972 It was a few months after my last eye surgery, the transplant that replaced the damaged layer of corneal tissue in my right eye. I knew I was seeing better than I had in a long time, at least in that eye; my ophthalmologist assured me that my distance vision was 20/20 without glasses, and my close vision was nearly perfect with reading glasses. But that day, as I was driving south, from Scottsbluff to Gering, I noticed the snow dusting the Wildcat Hills at the end of the road ahead of me,...

It was just a few days ago that I noticed them--cobwebs all over my house! They looked like they had been here for quite a while, in the corners and next to the ceiling. Now, this is both good news and bad news. First, the good news--I saw them! This means that, since my recent eye surgery, I am seeing details much better than I have in a long time! In fact, my surgeon indicated that my uncorrected distance vision is pretty close to 20/20 for the first time in thirty-some years, and my close vision should be correctable to 20/20 as well, at least in my right eye, when I visit my optometrist in a couple of weeks to get new glasses. But, the bad news--why didn't anyone else in my family notice those cobwebs and point them out so I could get rid of them or, better yet, why didn't my not-so-expert duster wipe them away? And why didn't eagle-eyed Levi, who hates spiders with a passion, make the connection that those prolific spider webs might indicate an excess of spid...

I was still in my twenties when I was diagnosed with corneal dystrophy, an often-hereditary eye disease that usually effects old people. But in my family, I was diagnosed first, then my mom, followed by my grandma a few years later. Since I've had the disease for such a long time, it was inevitable that I would need cornea transplants eventually. Mom has had three corneal transplants. The first donor-cornea carried a rare duck fungus, more common in much warmer places than Nebraska. Unfortunately, that hard-to-diagnose fungus caused her to lose more sight than she ultimately gained, even with a subsequent cornea transplant that "took." When my grandma was diagnosed, she was old enough that her corneal dystrophy didn't progress fast enough to require such drastic measures as a transplant. My own eyesight has worsened gradually over the years. I think my eye doctors originally expected that I would need surgery long before now. And, even this summer, my right eye ...

So, that little gas bubble is still there, hovering harmlessly in my left eye, too small to continue its job as a band-aid for the surgical incisions in my retina.  When I tilt my head down, just a little bit, I can see the whole thing, floating there in the center of my vision, like a little round ball edged in black.  If I look through the bubble, I can tell what I am seeing through it, like looking at an object underwater.  When I gaze ahead normally, I still see the top of the bubble; I can see most of the room above the bubble now, although it's quite blurry even with my glasses on.  Little black floaters dart about in my periphery like annoying little gnats, disturbing my solitude.  Lines that should be straight appear to be wavy, and the space above the gas bubble shimmers, with rays of light spreading from its surface like the rays on a child's colored yellow sun.  For the time being, it is less distracting for me to walk outdoors, or read, w...

As I recover from eye surgery, I am in awe, once again, to think how perfectly our eyes have been created.  I am convinced that such intricate organs as our eyes don't just evolve!  We are blessed to see the world in great detail, in three dimensions, and in glorious colors.  And God, in his infinite wisdom, gave each of us two eyes, so if one is injured, the other can still see.  Perfection like this can't happen merely by chance; it requires a plan. Not only did God plan everything and everyone he made on the Earth, but he had another perfect plan, from the very beginning of time, to rescue us from the messes we make because of our sin.  Jesus came to fulfill God's eternal plan.  Some people may question Jesus' purpose on Earth and his ultimate death and resurrection, but scholars can't deny Jesus' existence or his lasting influence here on Earth.  Just think--what would life be like if Jesus had never come? Jesus treated the world's outc...

Oh, the trials my left eye has put me through!  Somehow, it developed a macular hole in the retina, which obliterated much of the central vision in that eye.  So, after seeing several specialists, and enduring lopsided vision and resulting headaches for several long weeks, I finally had surgery to fix the hole.   The surgery itself wasn't too taxing; my surgeon was competent in spite of the fact that he looked to be about sixteen years old.  No, the culprit of the surgery was that infuriating gas bubble that the surgeon placed in my eye to act as a band-aid for the repaired hole in the back of my eye.  The trouble was that the bubble floated around in my eye, only doing its job when I was face down, with gravity forcing that little bubble into place against my retina. The ophthamologists in Scottsbluff are not equipped to do this particular procedure, so Bill and I made the trip to Denver for the surgery, knowing that we would have to remai...

I am scheduled to have eye surgery on March 6th, to repair a macular hole in the retina of my left eye.  In the meantime, I'm living with greatly reduced vision and a headache by early afternoon, most days.  I'm not looking forward to the out-patient surgery in Denver, but I'm even less excited about the five days after the surgery, when I have to spend 99% of my time face-down, in a motel room, with no reading or computer use allowed.  I can't come home right away because I can't change altitude right after the surgery.  And after all of that, I don't have any guarantee that I will regain vision in that eye, although the surgeon hopes that I will get back at least 50% of the vision I've lost. It's easy to feel discouraged about the prospect of this surgery and the aftermath.  I'm still not feeling 100% after my bout with a sinus infection and bronchitis last month, and I'm certainly not ready to miss even more school days.  However, I'v...