we can rebuild her, we have the technology1
An intraocular lens (IOL) looks like a small, clear plastic disk with flexible, wire-like “haptics” (springs) that hold it in place inside the eye. A personal lens: glass bending rays.2
I am now the proud owner of what surely must be the two most valuable eyes in all of Kingsville. Well perhaps only here at Mill Creek. Bionic eyes! We can rebuild her…
Lacklustre to Luminant
Picture yourself struggling to see through the fogged up shower door, or the steamy kitchen window when multiple pots are boiling on the stove — that’s exactly how my world looked for a very long time, as if I’d been looking on it with lack-lustre eye.3
Then, miraculously (yes, I’m going there!) I surgically received two new lens implants, and everything changed. Everything! No exaggeration, promise! Prior to my surgeries, my friends who’d already had their cataracts repaired, told me about how bright all the colours would seem. And they are; the most dynamic change for me being in the blue range of hues. But the outstanding difference, the improvement I am most grateful for, is my drastically improved luminance. It’s an overload of vibrant beauty at every glance, and I feel excited and inspired and very grateful. It is truly gobsmacking!
And what a perfect time of year to receive such a gift — all the reds and golds on the trees now look as if they’re lit from within — more vivid, more dynamic and much more beautiful than they were a mere fortnight ago.
In the photographic world, luminance is quantitive — it is the gauge or degree of how bright the colours seem, and indicates how much luminous intensity can be perceived by the human eye. Well, the luminance registered by my two lovely new eyes is off the charts and I couldn’t possibly be more happy!
For someone like me, who processes a lot of images on my computer screen, I cannot overstate the value and benefit of these new lenses.
I am now able to examine the many, minute colour details in my images that, ’til my surgeries, were invisible to me — gosh, there’s a lot of re-editing ahead of me, restoring my pictures to a state where their colours and essences are luxurious in their richness and vibrancy — brighter, stronger, crisper; more fascinating, enchanting and pure.
I am ecstatic! Cataract surgery has changed my life, and I know that this week’s revelation is one of the experiences and gifts I’ll always remember and treasure, no matter how long I live.
How beautiful!
’Til next time, y’all…
1Kenneth Johnson from the opening segment of the television show “The Bionic Woman”. The full quote (spoken by the character Dr. Ruby Wells) is “A woman barely alive… We can rebuild her. We have the technology. We have the capability to make her better than she was before. Better, stronger, faster.” Mr Johnson was the show’s creator, head writer and frequent episode director.
2Mary Jo Bang from her poem “How Beautiful” — full text below.
3William Shakespeare — Page 38, Act II, Scene 7 from his play As You Like It. The full line (spoken by Jaques) is, “And then he drew a dial from his poke, and looking on it, with lack-lustre eye, says very wisely, It is ten a’clock.”
How Beautiful
A personal lens: glass bending rays
That gave one that day’s news
Saying each and every day,
Just remember you are standing
On a planet that’s evolving.
How beautiful, she thought, what distance does
For water, the view from above or afar.
In last night’s dream, they were back again
At the beginning. She was a child
And he was a child.
A plane lit down and left her there.
Cold whitening the white sky whiter.
Then a scalpel cut her open for all the world
To be a sea.
Enchanting Essex 
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