I can see clearly now...

I can see clearly now the rain is gone.
I can see all obstacles in my way.
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind.
It's gonna be a bright (bright) bright (bright) sunshinin' day.
(Jimmy Cliff - I Can See Clearly Now)

A couple of years ago I felt like I needed my vision checked because things were getting a little fuzzy. The doctor changed my prescription and warned me that I had the onset of cataracts and that I should return in about six months to see if the situation was deteriorating. Well, one thing lead to the other like they always seem to do and I procrastinated until finally I knew that I had to do something. My vision, which was never very good anyway, had deteriorated to the point where I couldn't even drive at night because of the blurriness caused by the headlights of the oncoming cars and the street lights.

I returned to the eye doctor, an ophthalmologist named Dr. Alejandro Aldana Fariñas, who has been my eye doctor for quite a few years. After admonishing me for my foolhardy tardiness he announced that I could put it off a little longer if I so chose but that he recommended that I have the cataracts removed from both eyes...and so I did. It turned out to be a good choice.

Once again I am pleased to report that the medical care that I received from Dr. Aldana is better than I had ever experienced in the United States. We are very fortunate here in Irapuato to have the large, state-of-the-art eye care clinic that he runs which I think is at least the best in the whole State of Guanajuato if not the whole of the Central Mexico Region outside of perhaps Mexico City.

I had the left eye done first on Saturday, May 17th and the right eye done on Saturday, May 31st. On both occasions I arrived a little before the appointed time of 8:am and was ushered to a room to change into surgical clothing. Then I was taken to a place adjacent to the operating theater where my eye was prepped with various medications and procedures. From there I was moved to a reclining operating chair where the operation was performed quickly and professionally. It only took about fifteen minutes. After a short time recuperating afterwards I was allowed to return home with a plastic eye shield over the eye. It took about four or five hours for the effects of the anesthetic to wear off. Until then I had some double vision but that gradually faded away.

Right after the first eye was done I knew that I had done the right thing. For one thing I could see out of my left eye much better than I ever could before. The replacement lens that was inserted in place of the cataract had corrected much of my vision problem. I also noticed that everything that I saw with my left eye was very bright and colorful and my right eye which hadn't been done yet made things appear dingy and with a yellowish cast that I had never noticed before.

There was one other aspect of the cataract surgery that I had never even considered. With my new vision it gave me a new vista on life itself. Absolutely everything seems brighter and my spirits have risen to a new level. It is a really blessing from God and I have asked God to bless the doctor and all of his fine assistants and nurses. The service was great, the equipment very modern, the people were all nice, and on top of everything else, the cost was reasonable. That's about as good as it gets.