It started out about 10:30 Wednesday night...

...Dad noticed a change in his “vision.” Up until this time he had what was described as a black line across the bottom of his sight line. This line we later learned was the gas in his eye receding from the last surgery. This phenomenon is supposed to happen as dad’s eye heals, but the sudden change was different. This new blackness was encroaching from the top. Dad called it a basketball shaped dark that was drifting in from the top of his vision, blocking and clouding what blurry shapes he could make out. Yeah, definitely not supposed to happen. A quick call to Dr. Rinkoff, or as we know him, “dad’s eye guy,” and by 8am Thursday, dad was sitting with the doctor, eyes plugged in to various lights and machines shimmering as the sorting out of these new changes began. They even called for some ultra sound and extra exams. After about 4 hours and a big sigh from dad’s eye guy the diagnosis was made. Dad’s cornea is clouding over. This is partly due to the extensive amount of trauma his eye has gone through. The big black spot was another tear developing. This time the original fix had done its job. There was nothing that could have prevented this. In the 26 years and thousands of retina repairs the doctor has done, he has never seen a healthy eye like dads do this. Well we all knew dad was special, but really? Even according to Dad’s eye guy, Dad has done everything possible to help the healing process; it was just his eye feeling the weight of the trauma. The entire room sighed. Several gulps, and plans for yet another surgery were being hatched. By 4pm dad was being prepped and awaiting the start of his 4th major eye surgery in as many months. 3 retina repairs, a buckle, a relief valve, and a displaced lens… it kind a sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. Oh, and this is his good eye.

Good news? Dad’s surgery went great. The new tear was repaired and all other trauma repair seems to be holding ok. A massive amount of scar tissue was removed without too much fuss, in a little under 4 hours to be exact. He spent the night in the hospital recovering and made it home around noon today.

The not so good news? Restrictions. Dad must remain on his face. Tummy down. Sleep, awake, pray, wait, heal, all facing down for at least 2 – 3 weeks. Yes, this is going to be fun. Praise though, we have a massage table for him to lie on. I spent about an hour “tuning” it just so for him. Finally dad said, “that’s perfect, the only thing were missing is a massage therapist”... Lucky for him though, I might have had to shove him over.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

~With Integrity