Life

“Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back.” ~Arthur Rubinstein

My Wod:

tire wod is flip the tire jump in jump out run around repeat.  will do that the length of the bay doors and back for 10 trips.  add 5 burpees at each end every time. 

Doctor's kindness restores man's sight

Lack of insurance had kept patient from getting care

• By Alicia Doyle

When William Noriega of Victorville developed cataracts in both eyes at age 40 — and was unable to afford a simple operation to fix them because of a lack of insurance — he never expected an ophthalmologist in Ventura County to not only restore his sight for free but also restore his faith in humanity.
“I’m just grateful and amazed that there’s still goodness left in humanity,” said Noriega, 43, just one week after undergoing surgery on his left eye at the Pacific Surgery Center of Ventura. He had surgery on his right eye on April 13.
“This has restored my faith in humanity,” continued Noriega, who stayed with his father, Robert Mankin, in Ojai while he recuperated. “I couldn’t get help anywhere in California. I found door close after door close after door close. But I’m a firm believer in karma, so this makes me kind of think I must be doing something right.”
The operation was made possible by Dr. Bryant Lum, an ophthalmologist with Lum Eye and Vision Center, who agreed to fix Noriega’s eyes for free after reading a letter written to the editor of his local newspaper by Noriega’s father.
“My 40-year-old son has developed cataracts in both eyes. He can no longer drive or work. He has lost the ability to support his family and pay for insurance. A simple operation would restore his sight and make him a taxpayer again instead of a welfare recipient,” stated the letter written in November by Mankin.
“Although his condition is not life-threatening, how many people are there in similar situations? It is unacceptable that he needs to feel like a burden on society when he has been a productive citizen all his life. I’m sure he would gladly pay for a public-option policy if he could see to work!”
“As I read this, I thought, if that’s all this guy needs, maybe we can help him,” Lum recalled. “I do several hundred cataract surgeries a year at an ambulatory surgery center in Ventura, and one more wouldn’t be a big deal. But this cataract surgery could change this patient’s life. Even without a public option, we might be able to help him out from the private sector.”
It is rare for a person this young to develop visually significant cataracts, Lum said.
“Most cataract surgery is done in the elderly; however, cataracts can be found even in infants,” Lum said. “William is more rare because he has no family history of cataracts. He also has no predisposing factors such as trauma or high-risk medication use. We don’t know why he developed his cataracts. They have progressed to the point that he is unable to work or function normally. He is unable to drive safely or read.”
Noriega’s cataract surgery involved a lens implant.
“A cataract is a clouding of the usually clear crystalline lens of the eye,” explained Lum, who removed Noriega’s left cataract using an ultrasonic probe through an incision less than one-fourth of an inch in size. A folding lens implant was implanted through this incision. The operation took about 10 minutes. “The success rate with this type of surgery is close to 99 percent in my practice. I would expect his postoperative vision to be close to 20/20.”
The total fee for this surgery would be close to $10,000, or $5,000 per eye, Lum said.
“This includes the surgeon fee, the surgery center fee, the anesthesiologist and the intraocular lens implant,” he added. “If it were performed in a hospital, it would be substantially more expensive.”
As a shareholder of an ambulatory surgery center, Pacific Surgery Center of Ventura, Lum has the ability to perform a limited amount of uncompensated care.
“We have a great group of physicians, podiatrists and anesthesiologists who are also willing to donate their time, on a limited basis,” said Lum, further praising Keith Wintermute, the administrator of Pacific Surgery Center.
“He contacted Bausch & Lomb, the maker of the intraocular lens implant. B&L was gracious enough to donate their best premium lens implant for the surgery,” Lum said. “Unlike standard lens implants, this implant should allow William good distance- and near-vision at the same time.”
It goes without saying that Lum is a saint, Mankin said.
“We can’t believe that he just read an article in the paper and was motivated to help a total stranger,” Mankin said. “This happened around Christmastime and Dr. Lum called before Christmas; it was the best present we could ever have.”
With this surgery, “I am confident that William will regain excellent vision,” Lum said. “In my short time with him, he seems very motivated to return to the work force.”
Noriega, whose job involves the physical labor of landscaping, looks forward to getting back to work after he heals from the surgery on his right eye.
“All I have to wait is possibly two more months, and I’ll be back again with eyeballs that are kind of like bionic in that they’re never going to fail me again,” Noriega said. “For the rest of my life I’ll have perfect vision it’s miraculous.”