I AM BLESSED!

Hello to all my fellow Senior Chatters members. I have been off site for a while as I had to have another eye surgery a week or so ago, but I am back now and my vision is finally improving to the point I can see! YAY! It will still be several weeks before I can get my new glasses so for now I am just using large fonts and making the screen as large as I can.

What started out as routine cataract surgery has certainly taken me on a whirlwind journey. About 4 days after my first surgery in February, I was helping my sister remodel her bathroom and I had a little interaction with a table saw. I cut the tip of my left thumb off while cutting a piece of wood. The accident sounds a lot worse than it actually was because I was very lucky. I cut it to the bone, but did not cut the bone itself, and the blade of the saw went behind my thumbnail, not through it. The worst part of the accident is the repercussions it caused with my vision. My eye surgery was still very fresh and when the accident happened, it caused my blood pressure to spike, understandably, but it caused damage to the fresh surgical site in my eye and made my eyeball swell. As a result, my vision was worse than it was before I had the surgery. Luckily several months of treatment, mainly injections into the eye, have brought my vision back to the point I was finally able to have the second eye done last week. But I have had to be very careful to prevent complications with this one as well.

As some of you know, my dear Daddy, who I lost almost a year ago at the age of 90, was blind for the last 20 years of his life. My experiences with my vision have given me a whole new appreciation of the life my dad lived and the dignity and grace with which he lived it. He never asked “why me”, he just used the gifts he had remaining to live his life to the fullest. He continued his baking (he was a fabulous baker! Pies and cookies to die for) At Christmas time he would back 400 dozen cookies for all of us to give to friends as Christmas gifts. He continued his gardening, with the help of my sister who he lived with, until his death. This is the first year our family has not had a garden since I was a child. When I took him shopping to buy a gift for Mom, I would help him pick something out but he always insisted on paying himself with his debit card. I would place my finger on the sales slip and he would scribble his “signature” on the line, or somewhere near the line.

But Daddy never felt sorry for himself. He willingly tried all the new gizmos and gadgets we found which were supposed to help improve his vision (he loved to read the newspaper) but which actually were more frustrating than helpful. He diligently took the “eye vitamins”, supplements and any other “wonder drug” that came on the market making claims of improved vision. And he continued to be the strong patriarch of our family who led us not by dictatorship, but by the example he set by the life he lived. Towards the end of his life, I know how embarrassed he must have been to need help for the personal things he had always done for himself, but he accepted the help willingly from my mother, my sister and me, from my 3 brothers and from the nurses and aides who came the last few months to help us care for him. He met the nurses and aids with a big smile and always flirted unashamedly with the females. When his aide came, a very large man who would help get Daddy in and out of the bathtub and perform other personal tasks, Daddy would always ask him about his family and encourage him to always be there for his children. This was always so important for Daddy.

My recent brush with seriously impaired vision scared me to death at first but then I would remember my dad, who never let anything, even blindness, curb his love of life and his family. Then I realized that no matter what illnesses or infirmities of old age are visited upon us, there is always someone out there who is suffering more serious conditions, and doing it with a smile.
I know that with a membership made up of only “seniors” many of us have the trappings of old age to deal with. We never know what some of our fellow Senior Chatters members are suffering from. I am not one who usually shares openly my health concerns or woes but I wanted to share this in the hopes that all the members here look at their fellow members with compassion for problems seen and unseen. You never know just what a fellow member is dealing with in their life so don’t be so quick to judge when someone is having a bad day. Offer a word of encouragement. You never know when that word could make a difference in someone’s life. It could be just the thing to help them kickstart their life again.

Personally, I am blessed and pleased to know every one of you. Some of you I don’t know very well, but please know that I am here and if I can help someone with a problem, I will do my best, even if it is only to listen.

MJ

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Responses

  1. You are not the only one blessed Merry – we are too! To have you on SC is good for all of us, you give so freely of your caring, and it is appreciated, this i know… Thanks for sharing – I am due to have eye surgery soon – not looking forward to it (hate anyone touching my eyes!!) but will have to give in eventually..The dignity your father showed is a beautiful example to us all – a truely wonderful life well lived…. ((((((((hugs)))))))) and take care of those eyes (and your fingers and thumbs!!!) lina xxx

  2. All I can say is, you cant blame your eyes for your typo’s now!!!!! LOL 😀
    Seriously, I am inclined to be oblivious to others ailments, and if I have every offended anyone or been insensitive, please forgive me.
    Thanks for being so open with us merryjay

  3. Beautifully written, Merry. I’m so glad you’re doing better, with high hopes of even more improvement in the weeks ahead.
    What a loving tribute to your father, and how his love, grace, and dignity triumphed over the medical problems in his life.
    Thank you for sharing with us!

  4. a beautiful inspirational blog, I am struggling with one very good eye at the minute, which can make it a little difficult, especially with my writing, so please bear with me if I make a few mistakes and write things back to front sometimes, trying so hard too see properly, Glaucoma was only diagnosed a couple of months ago and i had no idea why I was bumping into things and tripping over , went for an eye test and found the results were not that good, but with drops etc; NOT TOO bad to deal with , so bless your dear Dad, and you for your understanding. yes walk alongside som eone before you judge guys, not always as it seems thank you mj, bless you xxxx.