(there is too much to share for one post!)
That's what it's like for Mark!
It has been a long journey to get to this point. Mark has wanted to have corrective surgery for a long, long time. He is legally blind without correction and that has been a source of frustration for him when it comes to sports, adventure travel, water activities etc. There is a lack of security in knowing that if you lose your glasses or contacts while on a jungle adventure in a third world country you are forced to rely on others to see for you. Or if someone breaks into the house in the middle of the night how do you defend your family if you can't get to your glasses fast enough? Not to mention that event photography involves a lot of outdoor photo work. For him to have his best vision he needed contacts and glasses, glasses are not so great in the rain, and it tends to rain here.
The icing on the cake was cuddle time in the morning with Sky though. He could see a blurry blob in bed, but he couldn't really see her. He really wanted to be able to open his eyes and see her smile first thing in the morning. (To be clear, Sky does not sleep with us because that is not safe, but after I get her up and feed her I bring her in to our bed for some morning cuddle time before the day starts).
Mark had done his homework and found out he was not a good candidate for any of the more well known corrective surgeries, but found out he was a perfect candidate for the Visian ICL procedure. Not only did he have to wait for it to be approved in the US he then had to save up the money to pay for the procedure. Finally, 5 ish years later, everything was falling into place, the procedure was approved and we had the money.
Then...we decided to start our family, and Mark decided that the surgery money would be better put to use helping to pay for the various expenses that go along with adoption. He never once complained about having to wait another 5 to 6 years for us to save up the money. Being a parent was way more important to him/us.
Fast forward 2 1/2 ish years to a Facebook contest to win the surgery for free! Mark went through all the steps to qualify for the contest. Perhaps the most challenging part was getting 100 votes for his video. I was amazed at the people that gave Mark their Facebook log in and password info so he could vote for them since they didn't have time, or the number of our friends that hit up their friends, people we don't even know, to vote for him. Thanks to complete strangers, our friends, and people trusting Mark with their Facebook accounts he won his surgery!
During the adoption process we always said, "it will be the right baby at the right time", and Sky is the perfect addition to our family! It turns out that by using the surgery money to help pay for the adoption, not only did we get the perfect baby and the right time, Mark got his surgery for free!
Which brings us to the day of surgery events, but that is for tomorrows post. This is long enough already.
Happy Saturday all!
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