I Can See Clearly Now........ Part I

Today's news carries a story about Glenn Beck. The story of his possible loss of eyesight was reported in yesterday's news. Today he is shown discussing the disease which is identified as a corneal dystrophy and shedding tears at the thoughts of not being able to see his family or to read. While I know little about his particular dystrophy I would say to him. "just hang in there." The progress in treating eye diseases is phenomenal.
I, too, have an inherited corneal dystrophy. I remember being told for the first time that eventually it would likely destroy my vision. As I recall my doctor did not tell me in such a way that I would feel hopeless or live in fear. Rather he said something like if you live well into your eighties we might have to do something about corneal transplants. That was about all he said.

I knew my prescriptions were getting stronger. Not too long after that he retired and gave me a referral to another eye group. So when the date for the yearly eye exam rolled around I went to a new opthamologist My eyes were getting progressively worse and I was no where near eighty.
One day after he had checked my eyes he told me when I got to the desk to make an appointment with their cornea specialist. The doctor was female. So I made the appointment and in the meantime I started to do my own research on Fuch's Dystrophy. I had for some time been making connections of my symptoms to the symptoms my Mom had with her eyes for years. They were the same but no one ever told my Mom about Fuchs. Further her doctor never told her that when he removed her cataracts there was a chance she might not be able to see better or that perhaps her vision might be worse gradually. The realization was slowly sinking in that I had the same basic eye problem that my mother had.

My research of this disease shook my world. I kept the appointment with the cornea specialist in this particular practice but I did not like her. She was about as warm and caring as a rock quarry. As she was telling me, "I will be doing the surgery to transplant your corneas," I was doing some serious thinking. Foremost in my thoughts was, "only over my dead body will YOU be doing my corneal surgeries!"