Patron Saints of the Eye

My first cataract operation on my left eye was so effortless, painless, and simple that I looked forward to my right eye being corrected.  The minute I was led to a chair and found two "nurses" ready to prepare me for surgery I felt a bit uncomfortable.  One nurse seemed too old to be working.  Without a word to me, she pulled a lever and my legs flew up and I was flat on my back.  Her rough hand grabbed my forehead and holding it firmly she said, "Open your eye."  I asked, "What are you going to do?"  She replied, "I'm putting drops in."  The nurse for my first cataract operation had been so gentle, explaining everything she was doing and seemed to enjoy doing her work.  This time, the old nurse seemed to do everything by rote with no thought to the patient. (me.)

She hooked me up for my vitals (later I heard she had put one of the heart monitors on my bra strap which wouldn't have worked) and went to the screen to read it.  She kept mumbling about how it wasn't working.  She called the other nurse for help.  Both stood punching different spots on the screen and I said, "You two really inspire  confidence."  One laughed and said, "I've come from another office and the machines are a bit different."  The other one said, "I just didn't press the right area."

A tiny pill was handed to me and told to put it under my tongue. I already knew the pill would relax me, but the nurse did not feel it important to tell me.  I did as I was told. On my previous visit, the good nurse before giving me the relaxing pill had checked with the doctor to make sure the pill would be working by the time I went in for surgery.  She had a wonderful bedside matter and to me she is what a nurse should be. I realized that a doctor depends on a nurse doing the front end of the procedure and if it isn't done right, the patient suffers!

In the mean time, one nurse began trying to bring up post op instructions on the computer.  She fooled on the computer for at least twenty minutes, sighing and making exasperated sounds. The old nurse joined her and they fooled around for another ten minutes and finally called a male nurse who came and showed them both how to get the information they needed. Since the doctor was running late, I was afraid the relaxing pill would no longer be working and I mentioned it to the old nurse.  She grabbed a little bottle and said, "Here, I will put more eye drops in your eye." I began to wonder if she knew what she was doing and by the time they brought the blue cart that would take me to the operating room,  I felt as if the relaxing pill had stopped relaxing me!

In the operating room, I was aware of what was going on.  Someone cleaned my eye and then told me she was washing my eyelashes.  I could see beautiful muted lights above me in deep rose, blue, and gold. I could hear the doctor telling me to look down or left or straight ahead. On my first operation I never heard or saw a thing.

When it was over, I was returned to the room, given juice and crackers (not asked what I would like as I had been before) and then I got the wheelchair ride to the waiting car. My eye gushed with tears, light bothered it, it hurt (not unbearable but I knew it had been fooled with) and I was glad when I could lay down and take a nap.  All night my eye bothered me.  If I stood or sat the motion made my eye ache.  If I turned on a light it bothered me.  When I turned my head I could feel a deep dull pain in my eye. I did not sleep much.  Around 2:30 a.m. I looked on the internet for a patron saint of the eye. 

St. Odila and St. Lucy are both patron saints of eyes.  St. Odila was born blind but when she was baptised as a young girl she was able to see.  When a betrothed admired Lucy's eyes she took them out and gave them to him and told him "now you have them and I can give my life to God." I did send a prayer to them to speak with Our Blessed Mother so she could ask her son to make my eye stop hurting.  This morning I woke up and felt better.

When I spoke with the doctor I asked her why the operation and recuperating time had been so different between both eyes.  She said it was like giving birth...no two births are alike!" The wonderful news about the cataract operation is that I can now see everything clear and sharp.

"No eyes that have seen beauty ever lose their sight"

by Jean Toomer