November 2019. I went in for a regular appointment with my eye doctor and found it was time for cataract surgery. Yes. I am at ‘that’ age. In January I met with an eye surgeon who saw a slight concern. He asked if I ever had eye surgery and I told him I hadn’t, but did have a miraculous healing from a couple of torn retinas. Not believing me, he sat back and shook his head and said,”there would have to be some sort of scarring that you had a torn retinal, and I doubt I’ll find anything.”
He looked for a long time into each eye, sat back in his chair again and asked his nurse for paper and a pen.
“I need to get this drawn out for your file”, he said.
“Did you find any scars.”
“Well yes “, then went on to describe all that he saw. He did not verify it was a miracle, but the scars were there!
As a matter of fact, he felt I needed to go to a Retinal Specialist to see if the scar tissues needed some strengthening.
Two weeks later I met with the retina surgeon. He also asked if I had ever had eye surgery before, and I told him about the same miracle. He said nothing but preceded to examine and inform me that the scar tissue in my right eye needed to be strengthened and that I had a few small tears that needed to be fixed right away. He also told me I had an extreme amount of floaters, making it difficult to see the retina. He performed surgery immediately with 80 laser blasts. He explained the the laser acts similar to a weld, binding the tears together and strengthening weakened tissue. A week or so later I saw something that looked like a large revolving lighted disco ball shape in upper right corner of my eye. It came and went. God prompted me to call the Retina doctor again. Sure enough, some new retinal tears were found and a circular shaped area of retinal tissue sticking to the back membrane. He stated that could easily have torn, causing very serious complications. He performed a second successful emergency laser surgery. Just 42 blasts this time. Again catching tears in time so as to prevent loss of sight. Two weeks later I had cataract surgery on right eye. Much easier recovery.
But the floaters increased exponentially and now included a big fat ‘gummy bear’ cloud that blocked the center of my vision.
I have had dozens of floaters in both eyes since the first tears at 35 yrs. old.
The first eye miracle was in 1985. Our family had to all go through a battery of medical check-ups getting ready to go to the mission field. My eye exam showed that I was missing small portions of vision, and was sent to an eye surgeon. At that next appointment, my doctor dilated and checked out the inside of my eye. Sitting back he asked, ”When did you have your surgeries?”
I replied inquisitively, “What surgeries? I have never had a surgery, just 3 baby deliveries.”
He said, “You have 2 perfectly healed scars from a detached and torn retina, one in each eye. If you didn’t have surgery within 12 hours, you would have been permanently blind. Even with surgery, there is no guarantee your vision would not be damaged!”
I responded,” I assure you, I am quite certain I would remember eye surgery!”
He paused, “Was there ever a time when you saw a flash of light and then couldn’t see?”
I thought for a moment then remembered. “Why yes.”
In January of that year I had walked out of my office during the 9 AM adult art class I taught. They were a playful, teasing bunch, and often played tricks on me. A bright flash of light hit me and I couldn’t see anything. I figured someone took a picture of me using a flash. We all laughed. But my vision didn’t return, and I called for a ride home. A strong headache transpired and I asked God to please heal my eyes as I had much to do. I had a few optic migraines each year and thought this was one- the worst one ever. Instantly I fell asleep on the couch. My sons- all in elementary school, came home in their normal boyish loud and active way, but couldn’t wake me up. They thought I was napping and simply went into the kitchen and made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. About 5:30 they were able to wake me so I made dinner and felt fine. My headache was gone and vision had completely returned. I hadn’t thought much about it.”
My doctor took notes on everything I told him, then made a diagram of the inside of my eyes, showing where the scars are.
He then stated, quite solemnly, “ I have never seen a retinal tear healed without surgery before. This is truly a medical miracle!” And in his notes, he stated these facts.
One might think that experiencing one miracle was enough. But my Father God decided differently.
Move forward about three years. I had daily headaches and optic migraines for many years, now about once a month. And pretty much always stress induced. Well these migraines were getting more frequent, and I started having areas of vision which turned into a grey cloud. Each time I had a migraine I lost more vision.
I saw a couple specialists who came to the conclusion that a nerve was being pinched and would eventually cause complete blindness. He felt that the migraines were the root of the cause and said one more migraine might cause me to completely blind!
They recommended immediate surgery but gave me only a 50/50 chance for success. I prayed for God to heal and asked the elders of my church to anoint with oil and pray for me as well. I even flew back to Wisconsin to see the original eye surgeon who declared my medical miracle. He felt the surgery would do more harm than good, but did not have any idea what should be done. What do I do? Have the questionable surgery or wait to go blind. God spoke to my heart. “Lean on me, and stand in faith”.
He gave me the peace to call and cancel the surgery. The doctor called me back encouraging me to reconsider being sincerely convinced that I would go blind without it. I told him,” God is going to heal me”.
One week went by. Still the partial vision loss with normal headaches but no migraines. Two weeks go by, same as before. Next day I woke up, and headed for the morning routine of aspirin for my daily headaches. Wait! I don’t have a headache! And my vision was much better!
Over the next few weeks my vision completely restored! God did it again! I called and told the surgeon the wonderful news! He didn’t know what to say. I did! God healed my eyes again!
Miracle number two. Check.
It’s 1997. Back in a place of high stress. While visiting my sister for the weekend, I felt the left side of my body go limp, couldn’t talk right and collapsed into my husband’s arms. I thought I must be having a stroke!. It was so scary! An ambulance arrived but on the way to the hospital, we got into a crash with another car. I truly thought I was going to die. My blood pressure was already sky high from the fear of having a stroke. The accident made everything so much worse! Another ambulance arrived and got me to the hospital. None of the tests were conclusive, but it was deemed a TIA. A TIA is like a stroke, but the side affects are temporary. Yet a large part of my vision was lost. Again! The peripheral vision would turn black and close up to the center, over and over. Large globs would float in front and again thought I would go blind. Over the next 10 months my vision slowly improved, and God’s peace brought on the next healing. This time it was my mind and spirit that He healed. Learning how to trust Him and find peace in the midst of this trial ultimately brought me to the place God needed me to be, and my vision was restored.
Miracle three.
Now so many years later I am blessed again. You might think these current healings were not really miracles. But this is not the case.
I realized that were it not for the scar God left in my eye, I could have gone blind again. I occasionally get optic migraines where weird lights are normal, and I probably wouldn’t think much of it. But God caused the doctors to see the scars and check deeper to find the tears. Thank you my Heavenly Father for watching over me and paving the way for my healing and the witness I could give of your original healing.
Is God a God of miracles? Absolutely! And there are more miracles than this!
The next surgery came pretty quickly. My surgeon scheduled a vitreous replacement. The gel like liquid in my eyes had so many congealed pieces and scar tissue (the floaters and gummy bears) that my vision was in dire straights. He would be removing all the liquid along with the gunk and replace it with saline solution. Again scary, but felt God would bless the surgery. Then during the surgery, as the clear liquid replaced the old, my doctor found several more tears, which were promptly repaired. This time 132 laser blasts.
By trade, I am an artist. Vision is everything. I’m sure every person would go through an extremely difficult time going blind. I think for me personally, it would be the most difficult handicap.
After the last surgery, I had huge black areas of no vision, and a great challenge to process. Again, God was near and I gingerly accepted His gift of peace. Within about a month, the black was gone and my vision in the right eye was better than it had been in a very long time. I had the cataract surgery in the left eye which was a piece of cake, and a couple months later had the vitreous replacement in the left eye as well to remove all the globs that clouded that eye also. Again, awesome success. After all that has happened, I can now see better than I have for over 30 years!!!
And. This has all been happening while our world has been enduring the corona19 virus in lockdown.
Only God is able to bring peace during these days.
So you ask, where is the miracle?
The miracle was leaving the first scar in my eyes so future doctors would see the need for a deeper checkout before cataract surgery.
It was being in a retinal surgeons office the day that several tears occurred, and that this doctor had the laser surgery equipment in his office.
It was God prompting me to go back when I saw the lights, that revealed new tears, that were also fixed the same day.
It was using the doctor to find the abnormal problems and revealing the fix.
It was finding out that this doctor is actually one of the top 5 retinal doctors in the country, and he was the one God arranged for me.
Every single step of these 6 surgeries on my eyes this year were bathed in prayer by so many family and friends. God brought me peace and comfort, and hugs and His love through so many.
What greater miracle could there be? It’s His presence in the midst of life. His deep love and provision. His grace and mercy for a sinner like me. That’s the real miracle!
September 2020 Linda Blevins
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