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Sunday, January 04 2015

This article was written by Stan Zdep, a Zion church member.  It was published in LivingLBI magazine in the October, 2014.

DON’T BE TOO QUICK TO BLAME GOD FOR YOUR MISFORTUNES

Reprinted from LivingLBI, October, 2014

At noon On Saturday, May 3, I noticed the dark curtain that was ominously invading the field of sight in my right eye.  I knew that this meant a detaching retina and that my window for obtaining help was small.

But let’s start at the beginning.  My wife, Betty Anne, and I have been fortunate to be able to spend summers on  LBI and winters at our place in Jupiter, Florida.  This winter, after many seasons, we decided to put our condo on the market, with the realtor’s contract scheduled to expire on April 1.  We had planned to return to LBI on April 2.  Before we left, in early March we had an acceptable offer that appeared ironclad.  We began packing only to discover that the buyer backed out at the last moment for personal reasons.  My initial reaction was anger--anger at God specifically.  I had prayed for a sale, and not only had this not occurred, but I seemed to have been toyed with in the process.

Then, I remembered a clergyman once saying that sometimes our wishes aren’t granted because God has a greater (different) plan for us.  This consoled me and my anger dissipated.  But even in my wildest dreams I couldn’t envision what  God’s plan for me would be.

The day after we arrived back at LBI on April 4, we received a better cash offer from a different buyer who had  viewed the property earlier.  It proposed a closing date of  May 13, which was a week later than the original offer.  I did not realize then that I was about to have some serious eye problems, but God would provide the time, place and resources for me to prevail.  With this new closing date, God had just established the timetable that would coincide with my upcoming eye probems and the place (South Florida) where a miraculous series of events  was about to occur.  As a scientist, I define a miracle as science so advanced as to be currently unexplainable.

Betty Anne and I returned to Florida to pack our belongings on April 29.  At the airport rental counter I was asked if I wanted to upgrade to a luxury car.  I declined, but in the rental lot, a Cadillac awaited us.

The packing went smoothly until four days later when my retina began to detach.  Being a Saturday, my ophthalmologist’s office was closed, but the answering service forwarded the message to the on-call doctor who agreed to see me within the half hour.  He confirmed what I suspected, but delivered worse news that all eye surgery centers, including the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute satellite in nearby Palm Beach were closed for the weekend.  The Bascom Palmer Hospital emergency room in Miami was the only place in south Florida where I could receive prompt attention.  Had my retina problem occurred during a weekday, I would have had it taken care of at one of the local surgi-centers.  In retrospect, that would have been a serious mistake.

We left the ophthalmologist’s  office not knowing if Betty Anne could negotiate the complicated, eighty mile emergency drive to Miami.  Arriving back at the condo, we called Michael and Mary Ann, friends living on our floor.  This was the beginning of the resources being provided that I needed.  These friends would serve as angels on my shoulder until we returned to LBI.

Michael and Mary  Ann drove us to and from Miami.  At Bascom Palmer, a retina specialist on duty determined that fluid had already invaded the center of the eye known as the macula.  Immediate surgery to prevent this was no longer needed, so I was scheduled for surgery on Monday, May 5, the same day that the movers would be arriving at the condo.  In addition to these logistical  problems, we were worried about a persistent hacking cough I had that might undo a delicate retina operation.  I  also was concerned about having brought along sufficient hypertension pills to get me through almost two additional weeks in Florida.  I counted them, and there were exactly the number that I would require.

On Sunday, May 4,  Michael accompanied me on the return trip to Miami, while Betty Anne and Mary Ann stayed behind to supervise the move.  In he meantime, Mary Ann had been on the internet and discovered that Bascom Palmer had been named  No. 1 in ophthalmology nationally for ten consecutive years in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals” rankings.  This meant that it also had to be  No. 1 in the world.

We stayed at a nearby hotel in Miami for two nights. Michael was constantly at my side pre-and post op at the hospital to assist and independently listen to everything I was told.  He returned to the hotel during the surgery which was supposed to last 30 minutes.  It took two hours because my cataract-replaced lens (IOL) clouded and prevented the surgeons from seeing the retina.  Two of Bascom Palmer’s top retina specialists  employed an endoscope to complete the operation.  Later my surgeon told me that Bascom Palmer was probably the only eye hospital to have such equipment available in the operating room.  The chances of surgery success without it were nil.

Five minutes after my arriving in the recovery room Michael appeared, telling me that he had ordered special recovery equipment by which I could remain face down, as required, for a week or more.  The only place where this equipment could be rented, predictably by now, was in Jupiter! 

While in the recovery room, separated by a curtain, a man in the next cubical was moaning in obvious pain.  When he implored Jesus’ help,  I also said a short prayer for him.

I overheard an attending nurse tell another patient that everyone had to remain in the recovery room for at least one hour.  Upon taking my blood pressure, she found it to be 168/95.  I told her that I was confident it would return to 137/78 within 15 minutes.  It did, and I was permitted to leave.  Upon passing the man who had been in discomfort, I noticed he was resting peacefully, apparently without major pain.

After a post-op examination the following day (May 6) I was cleared to return to Jupiter, worry free riding comfortably on the soft suspension of the Cadillac.  I had instructions for Betty Anne  to administer eye drops twelve times a day.  She dutifully did this. The discomforting news was that I would be unable to fly for at least six weeks due to the gas bubble that had been inserted in my eye during surgery.  We needed to be out of our condo in seven days, May 13, and had no idea what we were going to do.

One good thing, my hacking cough disappeared after the surgery and did not return until my retina had completely healed.

Beyond coincidence, Michael and Mary Ann told us that they would be driving to New York on May 15, and they insisted that we accompany them.  Moreover, we were invited to stay with them during the two days when our condo would be unavailable.  A quick call to the airline, Jet Blue,  resulted in our being credited for our return tickets, without penalty.

On May 9, I was able to meet with my surgeon at the Bascom Palmer satellite in Palm Beach, thus avoiding a long drive to Miami.  It was then I learned that my lens had become completely detached, and I would require another operation.  Apparently, it had been loose prior to the operation.  This explained the squinting I sometimes had to do to focus that eye.

Since we were about to head north, my Miami surgeon called Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia and arranged a follow-up examination with the surgeon who had been his primary professor while he trained there.

That Sunday, May 11, we attended church and were seated directly in front of a woman whom we recognized. We had exchanged pleasantries in the past, but not much more.  This time, however, upon learning of my eye problem, she placed her hand on my shoulder and related the story of her six-year old grandson who had an identical problem.  Speaking softly, she reassured me that all would be well.  I was certain of this as I realized God had just passed by and delivered a message to me.

After spending the final two days  of our stay in Florida with Michael and Mary Ann in their condo, we all headed north in their car.  The drive was leisurely, and we spent three nights in hotels.  The wind, thunderstorms and tornados remained a day ahead of us as we traveled in perfect weather.  Upon reaching the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel we learned that it had been closed by weather the previous day.

We arrived on LBI on May 18, whereupon Betty Anne called our friends, Larry and Judy who had looked after our house while we were in Florida, to inquire if they knew someone who could drive us to Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia on the 21st for my check-up.  Larry said that he did, and the persons’ names were Larry and Judy.  Thereupon, I became aware of the northern angels who would sit on my shoulder during the remainder of my recovery.   They already had been active in my cause by informing Pastor Bill at the Zion  Church in Barnegat Light of my situation and he had called twice to offer blessings and prayers.   Church members also prayed for me.

Larry and Judy drove us to Philadelphia  twice where we found the hospital but a few blocks from the Ben Franklin bridge, and a parking lot was located just across the street.  As Michael had done, Larry and Judy remained at our sides while we waited for my appointment when I learned that the healing was progressing nicely, but I would require another examination four weeks hence before my lens replacement surgery could be scheduled.

During this exam on June 18 I learned that my surgery could not be scheduled until August 5 to allow for complete healing of my retina.

August 5th finally arrived, and after an eighty minute operation, the old IOL was removed and a  new lens was inserted in my right eye.  The operation was a complete success, and my vision now is not appreciably different from what it was prior to the retina detachment.

In retrospect, I ask myself the question as to whether God caused my eye problems and the improbable series of healing events.  That would appear to be illogical.  Then, why do bad things happen to people?  Even Jesus on the cross didn’t seem to have the answer to this. 

What I do know is that I am trained in the powers of observation and can statistically separate chance from real phenomena.  Thus, one or two of the events that happened to me after the onset of my eye problems can certainly be attributed to chance.  But I am confident that the probability of all these being due to chance is not significantly different from zero.

I think we should all expect bad things to occur.  But when they do, if we are alert, we just might discover God standing near to ease our pain.  Believe me, it happens.

Since my recovery, I have often wondered why God came so staunchly to my aid after my eye problems.  One reason, I suspect, is that God loves me, and another may be that God wanted me to tell my story to you, and you probably  know why.

S. M. Zdep, Ph.D.

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