I Woke Up Blind: A True Story

Posted by: West Georgia Eye Care Center in Frontpage Article on November 1, 2014

Imagine waking up to nothing but darkness. Eyes wide open, but you cannot see. What would you do? Who would you call? How important would it be for you to get immediate help from an expert? In the midst of panic, you want someone who knows what to do. For the man who lived this story, it truly “meant the world” to receive immediate attention from a doctor he could trust. The following account unfolded right here at West Georgia Eye Care Center.

Scene 1: From Sleep to Nightmare

Columbus resident Thomas Butts went to bed with no symptoms. It was an ordinary Sunday evening, no different than any other. He woke up early the next morning feeling dizzy and nauseated. As the smog of sleep wore off, he suddenly realized what was wrong: he couldn’t see anything out of his right eye! Did this mean he was going blind? His wife dialed 911.

Scene 2: ER

The first protocol at the emergency room was to ensure that Mr. Butts’ life was not in danger. Nurses and technicians buzzed around him, administering CT scans of the brain to rule out the possibility of a stroke. The intense pain in his eye and head escalated to the point that morphine was necessary.

Mr. Butts was mystified when he got the test results. Everything came back normal. But he knew that everything was not normal. He couldn’t see! The attending physician checked his intraocular eye pressure. That was when the puzzle began to piece together. That was when he first heard the ominous word: glaucoma. From the ER, Mr. Butts was referred to West Georgia Eye Care Center and was immediately worked into the schedule on an emergency basis. He recalls that Dr. Edward Curran quickly explained that his blindness and other symptoms were all being caused by angle closure glaucoma and that the best treatment would be a laser peripheral iridotomy. He was taken directly to the laser and the procedure was performed with no complications.

Scene 3: Vision Reclaimed

After his laser treatment, Mr. Butts was immediately relieved of many of his symptoms. The extreme pain, the nausea, and the dizziness were all gone. By 6:30 Monday night, less than 24 hours after this frightening saga first began, he was healed of his blindness.

Today, he would quickly tell you, “God had his hand on me.” Mr. Butts is thankful for the treatment he received; he expresses gratitude to God, Dr. Curran, and the staff at West Georgia Eye Care Center.