Blog: Taking Care of Family

Written by: Dr. Joel Hunter

Posted on Jul 31, 2010

Josh and I said from the beginning that a key component of our credo (besides alliteration) would be that every person we treat here would be treated like family. This week, it wasn’t just a statement on how we desire to care for people. It was actual family on whom I was operating. My brother, my mom, and Pop (my dad) were the first three patients to undergo SBK under Hunter Vision’s roof. I had a knot in my back for a week waiting for it.

I knew the day would come, but I was never quite sure how it would feel when it arrived. I spent a lot of time preparing for the moment when I’d look down through an operating microscope at my mom’s eyes to perform her eye surgery. But really, there’s no way to prepare for an event like that. The consequential moments in our lives rarely allow us the luxury of a dress rehearsal (exception: a wedding). In this case, I spent a decade or so with my head down working on the next small steps towards Hunter Vision, and then the next moment, I am looking down at the eyes of the woman that brought me into this world. And while there was no way to know exactly what that would be like, I realize now that all those small occasions were a complete preparation for that big occasion. The room was not stressed and frenetic like I’d feared, it was peace and calm. Everything was exactly as it should be.

Today, I got to see the one day post ops. My mom is 20/20, Pop (always the over-achiever) is 20/15. Josh, who apparently has the retinas of a bald eagle, is reading off the 20/10 line. My two good friends, patients four and five (these are not their actual names), are 20/15 as well. All of them are seeing better than they ever did with glasses or contacts. I thank God that I got to be the one to participate in that. Tiny steps in the same direction for a long time allow amazing things to happen. It was a wonderful week and I’ve never been more grateful that Hunter Vision is finally here.