As an ophthalmologist, I am very glad to be able to improve the vision of these visually impaired patients and improve their ability to take care of themselves. In the past 10 years or so, due to cataracts, my right eye has been left with only a trace of “light”. In his left eye, he wore a pair of 1,800-degree glasses, and his vision was only 0.2. Early on, he sought medical help in hopes of increasing his vision through modern medicine. However, because he also suffered from macular pigment disorder, many hospitals refused: “The floor of the eye is broken, so you can’t do surgery. One day this fall, at an event held by the Pudong Association for the Blind, a blind friend recommended Long March Hospital to me, saying, “Go to Long March Hospital and ask a chief physician to examine you. Whether they are willing to do this surgery for you depends on your own personal destiny.” This blind friend, who also suffered from macular pigment disorder, had the surgery at Long March Hospital and now wears 600-degree glasses, almost out of “blindness”. This blind friend was also kind enough to register Professor Li Yu’s clinic number for me online.
In the afternoon of October 23, I came to the hospital and Professor Li examined my eyes carefully and told me frankly that both eyes were highly myopic and both eyes had cataracts. For the left eye, a surgery is possible to improve some vision, and it is absolutely sure. For the one that has been blind for more than 10 years and has only a little light perception in the right eye, the cataract has grown too old and we will have to wait until after the surgery to see how it goes. Maybe after the surgery it will be like it is now, still without any vision. I stated, “I just want to beat a dead horse, the outcome of the surgery is not important, what is important is to be able to do this surgery for me.” Professor Li finally agreed to do the surgery on my right eye for a “trial run”.
On November 11, the day of the surgery. Before the surgery, Prof. Li checked all the patients who had undergone the surgery that day, and also pulled out my medical records to confirm the surgery plan for my right eye again. And told me very seriously, “Your surgery will definitely be done for you by myself, you can be completely at ease.” The surgery was done at noon. Because of the “local anesthesia,” I was awake during the surgery. I was awake to hear Professor Li operate on herself, and awake to hear the series of “instructions” she gave to her assistant, repeatedly asking, “Slow down. This patient’s eye needs to be done more slowly and carefully.” The operation lasted 20 minutes and was over. Professor Li happily said to me, “The operation was a success.” Professor Li was happy, and I was happy too. The most exciting moment should be the moment when the thick layer of gauze was removed the next day. When the doctor removed the gauze, at that moment, I could see, the eye that had been blind for more than 10 years saw an image and had 0.1 vision. Although I could see the letters in a wavy pattern due to the pigment disorder in the macula, and the image was a little different, I was really happy to see something after all. This kind of excitement may not be experienced or understood by ordinary people, and I can’t explain it in words. I could only say to Professor Li again and again, “Thank you! Thank you!” However, Professor Li seemed very calm and just said, “This is what I should do.”
On November 20, I had a post-operative review of my right eye with Professor Li and requested further surgery for my left eye. Professor Li examined my right eye post-operatively and told me that I had recovered well from the surgery on my right eye and that I could have the surgery on my left eye. Professor Li also told very frankly, “You feel satisfied with having vision in your right eye, but I don’t feel satisfied. In my expectation, after the surgery of your right eye, you can see more than 0.4 with a pair of glasses of 200 to 300 degrees. Now you need to get a pair of glasses with 550 degrees. This is beyond what I expected. Although this is still within the scope of the surgery, we should be able to do a little better.” After hearing this confession from Professor Li, I was really grateful and touched by the dedication of a medical worker. Professor Li personally accompanied me for further examination of my left eye and further verification of all the examination data. She said to me again and again, “We must do the surgery on the left eye well and do it better.”
On December 2, Professor Li performed the surgery on my left eye. This surgery took only 10 minutes or so. The next day, when I was examined, my left eye, which normally had 0.3 vision even with a pair of 1,800-degree glasses, now had 0.25 vision, and I could have 0.7 vision with a pair of 200-degree glasses, so I could walk without wearing thick glasses, and I could completely get rid of my “blindness”.
That night, I was so excited that I sent out a WeChat to my friends to report this exciting news. In an instant, my friends blew up my home phone and my cell phone, especially some of my blind friends (I had many blind friends because I was the vice chairman of the Pudong Association of the Blind), and while they were congratulating me, they were urgently asking me: “Which hospital and which doctor did the surgery? Which doctor did the surgery?” “How much money did you send?” And so on. I told them very clearly: “The operation was done at Changzheng Hospital by Professor Li Yu. I didn’t send any red envelope.” Some people even congratulated me: “I met a good hospital and a good doctor.” They said, “Good people are rewarded.” I also got the light of Professor Li, a good man, more to thank Professor Li by. Yes. Through this eye surgery, I not only experienced Professor Li’s noble medical ethics, but was also impressed by her character. In today’s society, how many doctors can honestly say to their patients, “You feel satisfied, I am not satisfied”? When I was admitted to the hospital for surgery, there were some foreign patients in the same ward who praised Professor Li in the same breath and were moved by the fact that they did not have to “worry about sending red envelopes”. They said, “This is simply unimaginable in our local area.” While expressing our gratitude to Prof. Li once again, we will also pass on Prof. Li’s medical ethics and character, so that our world can be filled with more love and the lives of our disabled people can become better.