Jill was diagnosed fairly early in life with glaucoma. Glaucoma is an irreversible disease that slowly destroys the eyes; however, through surgeries and eye drops, science can control the pressure which damages the delicate eye parts. She began wearing glasses around the age of 4 or 5 and by her teenager years she had several surgeries on her eyes and had stopped using her left eye. Her glasses were thick, her eyesight poor. In college, she was a member of the National Federation of the Blind, occasionally used a cane, had a braille typewriter and the state often paid people to take her notes for her in class since she couldn't see the board. Sunlight was always difficult for her - the brightness made things more difficult. She had cataracts - a small one on her right or "good" eye and a larger one on her left or "bad" eye. It was considered too dangerous to attempt to remove the cataract without accelerating the glaucoma or risking an infection.
She had her ups and downs. After we were married, moving to Seattle helped. The cloudy weather helped. In 1994, Jill needed surgery on the top of her eye - where an artificial pressure release valve had been implanted more than a decade before. And that's when the first miracle occurred. After that surgery, for reasons the doctors can't explain, her eyesight improved. So much so that in late '94, Jill was able to put her blind gear away and actually got her drivers license! She still couldn't drive at night and didn't like driving in bright sun, but she could drive! What a huge blessing, especially after she became a stay-at-home mom in December 1995 with the birth of Maranda.
Her eyes were stable for a decade. She had her downturns - almost always about 6-8 months after giving birth, she'd get an infection and need to stop breastfeeding and begin eye drops again. But for the most part, things were stable. Then in early 2005, things began to cloud up. Her eye doctor, the superb Dr. Howard Barneby, had been wanting to use new advanced techniques to remove the cataracts, but it had never been urgent enough and with Jill getting pregnant every two years or so, he had always postponed. But suddenly her cataracts began growing quickly. By April, Jill could no longer drive. By summer, she had taken to wearing hats throughout her waking hours, wrap around sunglasses anytime outside and if it was bright outside, she kept the blinds closed. Her eyesight was degrading fast. She could no longer see the difference between grass and dirt as a mist descended upon her vision. Reading email was a long, laborious process - the font on "Very Large" and using her hands to block most of the screen except the two or three words she wanted to read at a time.
Finally her left eye's cataract had grown to the point that Dr. Barneby could no longer see inside her eye to monitor it for infection. He had no choice but to operate. The first surgery was in early October on her left eye. In early November it was her right eyes turn. This was a crucial point - failure would mean Jill might not ever see our child due in February 2006. Success was unknown.
And then the biggest miracle occurred. By the day after the surgery on her right eye, Jill could see! And without her glasses. Her vision was along the lines of 20/30 without glasses! Colors were vibrant. She excitedly reported that she could see herself in the mirror - for the first time she could remember. She could see the details on our kids faces, notice that our linoleum in the kitchen had a pattern in it and actually tell if something spilled on the countertop. She could read a book and read email. It was beyond our wildest dreams. The doctor had told her she might need over the counter reading glasses now. So we went to the local store and they had a chart. She held it the requisite distance from her eye and without any correction could easily read the smallest text.
It is now Thanksgiving 2005 and I'd say we have a lot, a whole lot, to be thankful for this year!