Back and glad of it!!!

The eye surgery was a total success and is one of the most amazing things I've ever been through.

It was painless and fast (less than an hour) with an afternoon of relaxing in a dim motel room with a delivered pizza and eye drops for recovery.

Dr. Jerry Bush in Grand Junction, Colorado heard of my plight though several ACGG and FEGA members and made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Even with a rental car, motels, meals, and kennel cost for Rufus the Wonder(ful) dog the total price was less than half of what I was quoted locally and some of that will be in trade for labor. Dr. Bush will have some custom metal work and I have my sight back....It's NOT a fair trade.

He should receive much more.

For the ones that so very generously donated their cash and their prayers I'll be eternally grateful. Both played a large part in the ultimate success.

I'm working in the shop today and trying to catch up on email, snail mail, phone messages and yard work all at the same time, with an aching back and two ballooned knees. (Stupid mistake involving a big box, a concrete floor, welding cable, and GRAVITY)

Right eye status as of now is 20/15 at distance (NEVER so good!!) and pretty bad up close. At over 40 feet or so the difference in vision is akin to the difference between rabbit ears TV and digital cable HD-TV. I see the texture of traffic light lens at 500 feet and power lines at miles. Deer stand out in shady oak brush like high maintenance women in a beer joint. Coyotes can't (so-far) hide.

I shot a few prairie dogs---purely in the interest of science, of course, with a Cheapshot and a Leupold 4-12x. It took a LOT of adjustment on the eyepiece lens to focus but when that focus was found, (both crosshairs sharp and black against the blue sky) the view was absolutely stunning!! I missed one out of 43 dogs out to 242 yards and truly believe I'll smear a little grease on the lens to make it a fair fight. It's gotta be unfair to see so good through a scope!!.

Right now it takes 1.75 diopter glasses to focus the right eye at finger-tip distance. 2.50 diopter to read. That will change in time. When it becomes stable I'll have trifocals made to cover the three distances with the proper prescriptions for each eye.

There will be some money left over. I'd like to hear of an international charity that contributes to vision correction to send it to. Please email me with your suggestions.

Thanks again everyone. I'm whole again....there's no better feeling and there's no bigger gift. I appreciate it more than words can express.

Jack,

Great to hear everything went well. Although I question the scientific nature of your test on the prairie dogs.

Regards,

Terry

I`m VERY GLAD to hear your surgery worked out so well. I wear progressive lens because of the same problems with my near vision. I can focus on my key board but can`t read the monitor with bifocals.
Welcome Back.........Joe

Jack,

Welcome back.

I'm so glad everything worked out as well as it did.

I'm looking forward to reading some more of your great posts.

-Mike

Best wishes for a very speedy recovery, friend. I hope you get to go shooting regularly and put the recent eye problem permanently behind you!
Good shooting.

Jack,

Welcome back. And we are all glad you had a successful operation. I think you will find life gets a LOT better when you see well!

Keep us posted on what other tests you carry out , for the "sake of science" of course

Jack,
Does your eye make that beeping noise when you look at things like Steve Austin's did? If you are like me you wouldn't be able to hear it anyway! Glad it worked out for you. Regards, Bill.

Congratulations on your eye. Glad it turned out so well. Take care - Dan

Great to have you seeing again. The varmint test sounds like the doctor's job passed muster.

Glad to hear it was a sucess. I'd hold on to any surplus you have for the time being, until you're sure there are no complications.

Then spend it on a new set of glasses if you need to, or something like that!

Jack, I think it's much to soon to call this a success. You need more "Field Tests" with a rifle. Relax and do some shooting...but I wouldn't shoot anything with much recoil for a bit till things completely heal up.

Jack,

Good to hear that things are going so well for you! I hope your recovery continues to be so progressive!

I would also like to put in my opinion and say that you should spend any extra money on another pair of glasses or two, maybe not right now but for in a year when everything has settled down. Also remember to take a vitamin supplement every day, it really hastens the healing process. In fact, if you can bear it try to take a multivitamin where you alternate taking 1 a day then 2 the next, then back to 1, etc. Combine this with 500 I.U. of vitamin E daily and you will heal much faster. You will also notice other little things, like your fingernails grow faster too. Just my 2 cents.

Anyway, glad to have you back among the seeing!

Mark