Fixing my Crossed Eye

 I suppose like most people, my earliest memory is of a traumatic event. I was four years old, and was given eye eye surgery to correct a crossed eye. As a small kid, it didn't bother me; I could see just fine. But my parents knew if it wasn't corrected, I would be teased unmercifully.

There aren't very many photos of me at an early age. I suppose my parents didn't want me to be remembered as cross-eyed. Most photos I've seen are shot from the side. One of the few photos I have of me at an early age is seen at left, presumably my first birthday with a cupcake and a single candle. Mom and Dad didn't have a lot money back then!

Anyway, when I was four years old, before Kindergarten, I was playing in the backyard one day, and Mom threw me a candy bar from the fire escape off the second floor of our apartment. She asked if I wanted another one and of course I said yes. Mom knew me well and knew how to get my attention!  She told me to come up to the apartment and she would give me the candy bar. When I got there, she gave me the news.

The next thing I remember, I was at the hospital. The surgeon was John Berger, a kindly man, who was one of the doctors who worked at Davis Duher eye clinic. I was on the operating table, and a nurse placed a mask over my nose and mouth to put me to sleep. Dr. Berger cut the eye muscle with a scalpel ... lasers do that job now, but they had just been invented, and not been applied to eye surgery just yet. I woke with bandages over my eyes. I recovered in a shared room with several other children. An older boy –- I remember he was on crutches -- took me under his wing and kept the other boys away from me who probably would have teased me.

Coming home, I was given plenty of rest and care. Mom made me tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. I remember my grandma was there to babysit because Mom worked days. After about a week, the bandages were ready to come off. The surgery was a success, and I think Dr. Berger was pretty proud with his work. I now had glasses, and Dr. Berger remained my eye doctor for the next 16 years or so, until his retirement. 

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