Blind luck has a lot do with life

A few years ago I wrote about getting a lens implant in my right eye and how wonderful it was. I've been waiting patiently for my left eye to develop enough of a cataract so it finally qualifies for a medical procedure as opposed to an elective enhancement. 

Well, hooray for me. I'll soon have a complete set of lenses. My left eye has clouded up enough to be fixed, and I'm certainly ready to get a new lens in it. 

To that end I visited the nice folks at the Eye Care Clinic in Swansboro last week in preparation and got an unexpected surprise. During the examination, they found a retinal tear in my good eye. Fortunately, it was just the beginning of detachment. 

I was extremely lucky they found it when they did, but my good fortune compounded even more by the presence of Dr. Andracchi. She's an ophthalmologist from Wilmington who periodically visits the clinic. The day of my exam just happened to be her day to be at the clinic. 

Once the tear was closely analyzed, she was able to take immediate steps to intercede. It was her opinion that if my appointment had been a week or two later, my retina would've detached before then. 

I ordinarily don't pay much attention to the little maladies that touch my life now and then, but this was a bit different. I'm particularly sensitive to eye problems because my mother had them. She was legally blind when she died. 

She'd suffered a detached retina as she was getting off an airplane. I wasn't with her at the time, but she said one moment she could see out of the eye and the next moment couldn't. 

This was way back in the 1960s, so methods and tools used on vision issues were almost medieval compared to those today. In fact, my mother had said many times her cataract surgery was the worse experience of her life. That was back when they physically shaved them away from the eyeball. I shiver at the thought. 

But now these doctors and their tools are absolutely amazing. The doctor pinged around the leading edges of the tear with hundreds of laser "stitches" to impede further expansion of the split. 

It was all done without any discomfort to me whatsoever. The whole process was a "Star Wars" moment.  She even used a small keyboard that sounded a little like R2D2. 

It's sobering how blind luck - pardon the pun - or lack thereof plays such a large part in lives. It sure has in this one and I'm thankful for all of it. 

Otis Gardner's column appears here each Wednesday.