Avoiding a Heartbreaker

I have learned the hard way that avoiding a heart breaker may not always be as easy as you may think.  Sometimes, and especially so in my case, I allow myself to be caught up in the moment as they say and in doing so I often fail to use my logic and experience to save me from heartaches.

 

This is what happened over six years ago when I decided to go for broke and gave my approval to the doctors to perform a third cornea transplant on me.  This despite my gut feeling that I should have left well alone and that my doctor's warning that the success rate would probably have been 50-50%; but the quest for additional vision clouded my judgment and six months after the surgery my heart was aching and breaking and I was fighting to keep my life together.  

 

Anything and Everything that could have gone wrong, did.  My retina detached in three places and the cornea failed.  As the doctor later said to me, it was one of the worst detachments that he had ever seen but there was more.  In a subsequent surgery to repair the damage, the eye itself was damaged and a piece of my heart died that day.  A terrible accident had taken place during the surgery and I was left to pick up the pieces all on my own. 

 

My family and friends were extremely supportive but nothing could have helped me deal with this tragic loss.  It's so easy to say that I should have done this or done that but it's too late now and all that I can do is to use this experience to save myself further pain for the future.  The lesson here for me is this:  Look before you leap.  Think carefully before you act.  Temper my hopes and dreams against reality.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and learn more about causes of blindness. 

Visit www.nfb.org or www.rnib.org.