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I’m getting LASIC eye surgery today. I’ve been wearing contacts for over 10 years. The surgery got scheduled in such an incredible way that I felt I had to share it with you all.
In the last year or two, the dexterity in my right hand, among other things, has been deteriorating. This makes it more difficult to do the things necessary to maintain contact lenses. A lot of details follow, but bear with me as they are important to the overall posting.
My mornings start with having to be awake long enough to where my eyes are not combative to the idea of having my finger touching them. I take the right lens from its container and place it in my left palm. I apply saline solution and rub one side, turn it over and rub the other side to remove any deposits the solution might have loosened overnight all with my right index finger. I turn the lens over one last time for a final rinse. Carefully I place the lens on my right index finger, use my right middle finger to pull the bottom of my eye open and my left hand to keep the upper eye open. I extend my index finger, with the contact lens to the point of it touching my eye. When the cool sensation of the saline and my eye meet, I know the contact is in securely. I repeat the procedure with my left contact. At night, it is much simpler as I reverse the procedure without the rubbing and just place the lens in the container. Anyone who wears contacts may take these actions for granted.
Why did I go into such detail about stupid contact lenses? I guess it must be understood that my first symptom of ALS was fatigue and weakening of my right index finger. From the description above, you can tell how much I use that finger for contact lenses. The theatrics involved in putting my contacts in and taking them out prove very fatiguing. I could probably figure out a different way or would have in the long run, but I didn’t have to thanks to a whole train of people and events.
We have some friends, Dr.’s Hans Kell (Hans) and Jennifer Tasca-Kell (Jen), who are Ophthalmologists and have a practice in Louisville called Front Range Eye Health Center. Jennifer had an appointment with Jen for new contacts. She asked if Jen could teach her how to take out and insert lenses for me. Jennifer explained the difficulties I was experiencing and that they were not expected to improve but rather worsen dramatically over time.
That was about 2 or 3 months ago. I received an email from Hans on August 19th, 2005. It basically said that he had approached some friends at Insight LASIK to see if they would be willing to perform the LASIK procedure pro bono, as he was willing to do the pre and post operative management at no cost. One of the doctors at Insight LASIK, Jimmy Jackson, was very thorough and even emailed colleagues to see if there would be any concerns over doing LASIK on an ALS patient. He discovered there were none and noted the obvious quality of life benefit that Hans had previously mentioned to him. Dr.’s Keith Miller and Jim Montgomery (the actual eye surgeon) also agreed. The email stated their willingness and generosity to go through with it all. I read the email at least three times to see if it really said what I thought it did! Hans told me that we can make this all happen if I wanted…Duh!
As I am writing, I find myself very emotional over this again because the biggest magic of all of this was the simple act of Hans even thinking about approaching the generous and thoughtful people at Insight LASIK. It didn’t matter what the answer turned out to be, just the thought. You are a class act, my friend. Hans had the surgery himself not long ago with this group. Being an Ophthalmologist himself, this told me a lot about how fantastic these doctors are.
The adventure begins at 1:30 and I will be doing a follow up posting to let you know how it goes. I am very excited and not nervous at all. I know how it will benefit me, but I think of Jennifer not having to work with my contacts on top of all the other wonderful things she does for me and I am thrilled for both of us. Thank you to everyone mentioned above for their time and generosity and I will SEE you all on the other side.
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