70 Days

Every mom envisions watching their daughter walk down the aisle. However, this may not be a reality for my mom. My mom is a 48 year old woman with glaucoma. Glaucoma is a disease in which the tiny holes in the surface of your eye close up. Everyone has these little holes, they are how the pressure in your eye gets released so as not to build up. However, my mom's eyes don't have a way for the pressure inside to escape. Because of this, the optic nerve in her one eye was irreparably damaged due to the high build up of pressure, leaving her blind in that eye.

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In a routine appointment about a month ago, she was informed that although she had had laser surgery on her other eye (which already has limited vision) to make new holes in her eye, the pressure in her 'good' eye was at 40. Normal pressure in an unaffected eye can range between 10-20. She was double that! They scheduled her for a surgery to put a stint in her eye to help relieve the pressure. The risk of the surgery was blindness, but as my mom put it "If I don't do the surgery I will be blind in a few months, so I want to give myself any chance of saving the sight I have." She had her surgery a little over a week ago, and her sight is still not back. However, the doctors say that this is normal since her eye has been through so much, (surgery, stiches, eyedrops, and the quick relief of pressure). Luckily, her pressure was down to 10 at her post-op appointment on Wednesday, so now it is a waiting game to see if her vision comes back. (Today she could sort of tell the time on our big clock!)

My mom is a strong woman, and I look up to her for the amazing strength and determination she has shown throughout her life but especially since she was diagnosed with glaucoma (6 years ago!). 

4 Generations of Strong Women - my mommom, my mom, my greatgrandmother (mommom Clara) and baby me!

Who do you look up to for their strength?