“The
bad news is you have Fuchs’ Dystrophy. You are legally blind. The good news is,
with a cornea transplants we can help you see again,” the eye specialist told
me in the spring of 1999.
With
only the knowledge the first specialist gave me I started a journey into a year
of pain filled trauma. Before I left the doctor’s office that day, my name was
placed on a donors list. In August I received the call, “We have a match.”
This
blue eyed, still working in medical billing, scared of going blind at 58, I received
my first cornea transplant. Eighteen stitches held the cornea in place for a
year. Every one of those stitches felt like a dirt clod in my eye.
I
didn’t live on the internet then like I do now. No one told me to research
Fuchs’ Dystrophy—I understood it could be genetic, but usually happened in
older individuals. In school I probably studied the makeup of the eye, but by
1999 I’d forgot all those details.
 |
| Fresh cornea transplant photo from Wikipedia |
Until
today, December 16, 2012, I didn’t research what a fresh cornea transplant
looked like. Now I know why I lived with pain.
Because of Husband's good care, the help of my children, and my
co-workers, I lived through and worked that year and then through the 2nd
transplant. November 2002, with a different doctor, I received a transplant in
my right eye.
What
did I learn? 1) Ask a lot of questions. 2) Get a second opinion. 3) Research and
understand what you face. With knowledge comes understanding and less fear.
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