People throw around the word ‘miracle’ these days.  A great catch in football, a glue that holds together that figurine you’ve already broken four times, etc.

I know modern medicine continues to advance, but what happened to me is nothing short of a miracle.

My situation started on the Friday of a Labor Day weekend four years ago.  I was at work, noticed my left eye was blurring and just assumed it was due to my continuous lack of sleep.  I even went and worked out at the YMCA during lunch and it was still blurry.  Then, while sitting in a room trying to watch a commercial we were working on, it was like someone was lowering the shade on my left eye.  I went to a local eye doctor who sent me to a specialist–I was experiencing a detached retina.

The following day I had surgery and for a week, I had to live, breathe and sleep face down in a massage chair while my attempted to heal and reattach.  When all was said and done, I had one blurry left eye.  I was told that it would continue to get better over the next five years and hopefully, things would improved.  They hadn’t.

I learned to live with a blurry left eye, which meant my right eye did all the work.  To see things clearly up close, I literally had to hold them up within three inches of my left eye. It was sad

Then, something told me to go visit an old childhood friend, who had grown up down the street from me.  We’ve stayed in touch over the years, but his ophthalmology practice was over in Silverdale, so we just didn’t see each other.  I took a day off work, set up an appointment and asked for his thoughts and theories on my situation. He determined I had a cataract in my left eye.

To be fair, it probably was the healing and the on-coming cataract crossing paths, which is why I assumed my vision hadn’t changed since the operation.  None the less, there was now hope.

Going to Dr. Rico in Silverdale was possible, but not practical.  So, I asked for a recommendation and he told me if it was HIS eye, he would go to Dr. Weingeist in West Seattle.  About as high of a recommendation as you can go, so I made that appointment.

Yep, a cataract.  Sure, we’ll do it in December.  In at 8:10, sitting in the lobby, seeing a clear world by 9:30.  Again, you’re talking about a guy who had written off his left eye, now enjoying 20/20 in each.

All this to say, if you hear the word ‘cataract’ in your future, it’s no big deal.  Well, to modern medicine.  To me, having my revision restored after four years is nothing short of a miracle.   I still wake up and find it hard to believe, every day I open my eyes.  If you get antsy about surgery on your eyes, know that they use  the same drug used in colonoscopies, where you enter a ‘twilight’ and so you can cooperate, but you’re not aware of any discomfort.

It was easier than I ever could have imagined.  The results have been completely amazing. To me, it was nothing short of a miracle.

See you clearly in 2013!

Tim Hunter