Life with new eyes

The phone rang. ‘It’s Peter Malone from work.’ We both worked at the Civil Service Association of WA and knew each other vaguely. I tried to convince Peter it was too difficult to start seeing each other because of the work situation but he persisted and we started having lunch together. Soon we were heading out for dinner and the movies.

Our courtship was interrupted by the phone call from Dr Barrett. While I was in hospital Peter was a regular visitor and his support and care made my life much easier during the recovery period.

A few months after my surgery Peter was going away for two weeks on business and would be away for my birthday. He had arranged for us to have dinner before he left at the ‘Loose Box’, one of Perth’s top restaurants. During dinner he gave me my birthday present – two tickets to a Jimmy Barnes concert that was going to be on while he was away. I was a huge fan and loved the present but while we were waiting for dessert he asked.

‘Will you marry me in January?’

The waiter bought over a bottle of Moet and Chandon for us and I discovered the staff had been waiting all night for him to pop the question!

When I walked down the aisle six months after surgery with my new cornea to marry Peter my vision wasn’t great but it was good enough to see him waiting at the end for me! I had always thought that on my wedding day I would have contact lenses which I had practised wearing for months or be wearing my glasses. It had never crossed my mind it would happen with neither.

It was a bit weird seeing our wedding photos. In all the photos from milestones in my life I was wearing my ‘coke bottle’ glasses and never in my wildest dreams did it occur to me that technology and wonderful doctors and donors would be able to give me a permanent contact lens.

I was still on the waiting list for the second operation when Peter and I wanted to move on to the next era of our lives and become parents. As we had no control over the timing and I didn’t want to be pregnant or have a young baby when the call came, weekly calls were made to Dr Barrett’s secretary Carole to check my progress on the list. I’m sure they bumped me up the list to stop me calling.

The second operation went as well as the first and as this was the second time going through this whole procedure it wasn’t scary at all. It was exciting and because the result was so good the first time there was never any doubt about the success of this one. For the first time in my life I had ‘normal’ vision. My friends and family watched as my confidence grew as I ‘came out’ from behind my thick glasses. I don’t know how but I had not realised the impact my low vision had made to the way I lived my life. It was a time of change!

We settled into our new life and lived in the little cottage Peter had purchased the year before. It wasn’t long before our family grew and we welcomed Caitlin in 1993 and Emily in 1994.

Having two children so close in age was a challenge and over the years we had lots of challenges and lots of fun. Because they were so close in age they liked playing the same games and similar toys. Dolls, prams and cradles were favourites. They loved playing on the swings and in the sandpit and of course made a mess whenever they could. One legendary story is the talcum powder incident when Caitlin was two and Emily one. I was doing something in the kitchen and after a while realised they were pretty quiet and went looking for them. I found them in Caitlin’s room and they were white – as was the whole room! A tin of talcum powder had been shaken all over them and the room. I didn’t know what to do - laugh or cry and decided to get the camera! We have a couple of great photos that we absolutely love of our talcum powder covered girls!

We travelled to Melbourne, Broome and Margaret River. These trips were major events and Peter got used to the amount of luggage we needed to take each time!

During a business trip to Melbourne in 1996 Peter was approached to apply for a job. It would be a great professional move for Peter and a chance for us all to experience living in a different city. The job in Melbourne didn’t eventuate but he was offered one in Canberra. We had been ready to move to Melbourne and Canberra was better – not such a big city.

The decision to leave family and friends at this particular time in our lives was not taken lightly but in the end we thought it was worth a try and if it didn’t work out we could always go back to Perth.

On August 7^th 1996 our family moved to Canberra to start a new chapter of our lives.

Cornea transplants change my life

It would be eighteen months before Dr Barrett called. Peter and I were heading over to Rottnest Island for the weekend. As I was on a transplant waiting list my doctor had a list of phone numbers to contact me. When we arrived there was a message from my sister.

‘Phone Dr Barrett.’

I couldn’t believe it when he said. ‘Matching tissue is available. Can you be in hospital Monday?’

I told him where we were and asked. ‘Do we need to come home?’

‘Stay and enjoy your weekend but we need you Monday afternoon.’

Oh my God, this was actually going to happen!

I phoned mum and my sister and then Peter did what every supportive boyfriend should do – took me to the bar at the Quokka Arms and ordered alcohol!

We spent the weekend wandering around the island and talking about what this would mean for both of us. We had been going out for a while and this event was going to be a turning point for us. We talked about the surgery and how we would manage my recovery. I phoned my boss to tell him I would not be in for about six weeks and I was sorry for not giving more notice. He knew that I would not have much time when tissue became available but like me had probably thought it would never happen.

Mum was not very happy about the surgery. She was frightened because this was a really big operation and she was worried I might lose the small amount of vision I had. This worried me too but I was in my thirties and my vision had been a problem for so long, and would continue to be for the rest of my life, it was worth trying something different.

My surgery was successful and each time the bandages were removed the doctors were very excited by the results. During my stay in hospital, the counsellors asked me.

‘How do you feel about the surgery being made possible through tissue donation?’

I have been asked this question a lot over the years. My response has always been.

‘I will be forever grateful to the family who during one of the worst experiences of their life made a decision which gave me one of the best experiences in my life.’

I still remember wearing ‘normal’ sunglasses when mum drove me home from hospital and I could read the number plates on the cars in front of us and see all the road signs! We were driving on the Kwinana Freeway and even now I can remember the thrill of that drive home. I had only had one eye done and was not wearing glasses. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like with two new eyes! There were a lot of follow-up appointments and mum drove me to the hospital each time. As we were often in the doctor’s surgery for a few hours we were both interested in the progress of other patients in the waiting room and there was one lady in particular who had her surgery the same day as mine. She was reading books and sewing while she waited. I wasn’t doing anything! I was too scared to put any strain on my eye at all in case I did some damage. I was not surprised when she suffered some setbacks with her recovery and I hoped she would take more care. Mum was very relieved my surgery and recovery had gone so well and Dr Barrett was very happy with my progress. Within months I was back on the waiting list for the next one and waiting for the phone call!

As the weeks went on it was important for me to regain my independence. I was very lucky with great family and friends around me to help during the early days after my surgery. Eventually I was able to do some limited driving and catch buses to work and my appointments. Going back to work was interesting as my job was in the Accounts Department and often I would put on my old glasses to manage some of the fine work I needed to look at. It meant I was out of focus a lot because my new eye did not need the glasses but the other one did!

One day, while on my way to see Dr Barrett for a check up, the woman who sat next to me on the bus told me about her daughter whom she was going to visit in hospital. Her daughter was having a cornea transplant the next day and they both were feeling a bit scared. She mentioned that Dr Barrett was her daughter’s eye specialist. I told her my story and how good Dr Barrett was and how well he looked after his patients. When we parted at the hospital she told me she was glad to have met me and I think it was then that I realised the importance of what had happened to me. The organ donor program was not only saving lives with the hearts, lungs and kidneys, it was changing lives by giving us the gift of better sight as well!

History of my eyes

Starting school for me was life changing in many ways. My grade one teacher made an observation that would have a major impact on our family and my life. Miss Taylor noticed I was having trouble seeing the blackboard and called my parents to tell them I was ‘squinting’ at the blackboard and she thought it would be worth having my eyes tested. The eye specialist mum and dad took me to see was Dr Lamb, and he diagnosed cataracts. It was an unusual diagnosis for a child my age and to this day there is no explanation why I had cataracts. No one else in my family had eye problems.


I had surgery to remove the cataracts from both eyes and during the next ten years a number of surgical procedures were needed to enlarge the pupil. These were called ‘needlings’ and required me to stay a couple of days in hospital. I have a very clear memory of being in the playroom at Princess Margaret Hospital at the time of one of the cataract operations. Dr Lamb came to see me and told mum I could go home. When she told me I was very upset as I was on the rocking horse and didn’t want to leave!


After my initial surgery I started wearing very thick ‘coke bottle’ glasses and wore these for the next 25 years. The glasses from my childhood belong in a museum. This was during the 1960s and 70s and my glasses were not the lovely cool and discreet looking ones we wear now! These were my ‘Dame Edna’ glasses because that was what they were like! Mine were very thick and very heavy and I still have the indent on my nose from those early ones. Of course wearing my thick glasses in those days led to me being teased a lot at school. The most common names were ’four eyes’ and ‘frog eyes’ because my highly magnified glasses made my eyes look huge!


Of course I always had to sit in the front of the classroom to see the board and that didn’t make me feel ‘special’ at all. I felt very self-conscious from a young age and was a shy and introverted child and teenager. I hated playing sport at school because in those days winter sport was hockey and summer sport was softball. That meant hard balls being thrown very fast or hit very hard and as I was not the most coordinated person in the world all I remember is how terrified I was of being hit in the face and having my glasses smashed! I did play netball and didn’t find that as terrifying as the other games. Swimming carnivals were a nightmare as of course without my glasses I couldn’t see very well, and that is probably why I was often last in my races - I couldn’t see the end of the pool!


Dr Lamb retired when I was in my early teens and I was then under the care of Dr Michael Walsh. At various times during my teenage years he suggested we try contact lenses but these experiments didn’t go well. They were always uncomfortable and I never adapted very well to wearing them and my parents eventually decided they were not for me. During the mid-1980s Dr Walsh talked about cornea transplants and how he thought my eyesight problems would make me a suitable candidate for the surgery but for me it was just too scary and I kept saying no.


In 1989 I finally gave in and agreed to see Dr Barrett at the Lions Eye Institute at Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital and hear what he had to say, but I wasn’t going to do this! The minute we met I knew this was for me and was put on the waiting list for a cornea transplant.

Introduction

View from the verandah

Peter and I were sitting on the verandah having a glass of wine. It was late afternoon and the shadows were getting longer across the paddocks and the temperature was starting to drop. We were watching the kookaburras on the fence, the dog and cat were lying in the last spot of sunshine for the day and the kids were inside doing whatever teenagers do. He looked at me and said. ’How good is this?’
We have been living in the country now for three and a half years. It has been a rollercoaster ride for our family but we have got to a point where we are all settled and happy to be here.
The timing of our move could have been better. Peter had just started a new job, we had teenage daughters and I was nearly blind!
What brought a family who were all born and bred in the city to a small village in the country? When I thought about where this journey began for us I realised that two phone calls a couple of months apart were defining moments in my life.
The first call was from Peter. We worked in the same office and vaguely knew each other. I answered the phone to hear. ‘It’s Peter from work.’ This call lasted a couple of hours and by the end he had convinced me to go out to lunch with him the next day.
A few months later I received a call from my eye specialist telling me that donor tissue was available for me to have a cornea transplant.
These two phone calls set in motion all the events that would lead us to a very beautiful spot in Southern NSW.

Welcome to Sheep Have Legs

August 15th marks the third anniversary of the final operation to restore my vision after a dramatic couple of years where my lack of vision caused a few problems!


As most of you know I had documented a lot of the stuff that went on. This year is my year to 'stop procrastinating' and it is time to do something with the words I have written. My plan is to put the story on to this blog. I promise to do a post each week no matter how chaotic my life is and when it is all up it will be THE END of this project and it can be ticked off on my list of things to do.


The reason for the name of this blog will be revealed!


This is my story in my words.  I hope you enjoy it.