Well, the cataract surgery in my right eye didn't go so smoothly as with the left. My fault, apparently. During the procedure, I moved just a little bit, because I suddenly coughed without warning, and the laser injured part of the eye.
The thing is, they did not tell me this during the surgery. The doctor merely finished as usual and said 'Okay, done.' As they unwrapped my head and stood me up, I was alarmed, to put it mildly, upon finding that I could not see out of the right eye.
"Hold on, doc … I can't see. Aren't I supposed to be able to see?"
"Ya," she says, "you come to hospital tomorrow."
The doctor and nurses are tidying up, getting ready to leave, guiding me out of the room. Here I am blind, and they are all behaving as if this were business as usual.
"Wait! What happened? Why can't I see?"
Now, this is something that annoys me about Indonesian speakers, doctors in particular. Although I am speaking to them in Indonesian, they seem to remain convinced that they cannot communicate with me. So they try English instead.
"Ya," the doctor says, "You moved and you injure eye. I … hmm … entered a booble to protect the wound."
"A booble?"
"Yes."
What in the world could this mean? I searched my mind, trying to interpret the word, and recalled that she had pronounced the word 'goggles', those glasses one must wear after surgery, as 'googles'. Therefore, could 'booble' be 'bauble'? A small trinket? Had she inserted a small trinket into my eye?
But no, that can't be.
Booble. Hmm. I glance at the doctor's chest. Had my eye been accidentally poked by a booble? But no, this did not seem likely either, especially considering …
"Wait! What is a booble?" I demanded. "Did you say 'booble'?"
"Ya," she says, making her first effort at patience. She leans close and pronounces the word very carefully, "Booooble. I make boooble with air, mister," and to illustrate, she makes a little circle with her thumb and index finger. "I put booble around wound."
Bubble! She is saying bubble! Ah ha! An air bubble.
And the bubble will dissolve in about three days, she adds.
"Three days? Can't you just poke the bubble now?"
"Nooo, mister. Booble must protect eye because of you move, understand?"
So I went back to the recovery room, feeling keenly disappointed. I had so been looking forward to seeing perfectly with the right, just as had happened with the left. I took off the hospital gown and put on my clothes, cursing myself for moving. What if the booble is not effective, I worried? What if my eye is like this forever?
Well, it has been two days now, and I am happy to say that the booble is 95 percent dissolved. And my vision is incredible! Unbelievable! As I went out my front door this morning, I actually started laughing. What a world this is! What a world I have been missing for so many years now! What a world I am seeing here in Bali for the first time!
I can see the fields beyond the nearby hedge for the first time, and the white flags in the fields, and the farmers in the fields, and the buildings beyond and the little temples on the building tops and fences and cows and children running in the grass and the progression of all the cross-shaped poles of the power lines and the lines themselves and birds on the lines and individual stones under my feet on the road and the end of the road and then beyond the end of the road. My God, I have landed on a whole new planet! Or in any case on a planet that has been hidden to me for as long as I can remember.
I am smiling still as I sit in Starbucks, seeing every face near and far, of the baristas, of the customers, of people outside the windows walking in the mall or sitting at tables on the veranda. And although I am not feeling well, because of another health problem altogether, I am nonetheless feeling great!
The thing is, they did not tell me this during the surgery. The doctor merely finished as usual and said 'Okay, done.' As they unwrapped my head and stood me up, I was alarmed, to put it mildly, upon finding that I could not see out of the right eye.
"Hold on, doc … I can't see. Aren't I supposed to be able to see?"
"Ya," she says, "you come to hospital tomorrow."
The doctor and nurses are tidying up, getting ready to leave, guiding me out of the room. Here I am blind, and they are all behaving as if this were business as usual.
"Wait! What happened? Why can't I see?"
Now, this is something that annoys me about Indonesian speakers, doctors in particular. Although I am speaking to them in Indonesian, they seem to remain convinced that they cannot communicate with me. So they try English instead.
"Ya," the doctor says, "You moved and you injure eye. I … hmm … entered a booble to protect the wound."
"A booble?"
"Yes."
What in the world could this mean? I searched my mind, trying to interpret the word, and recalled that she had pronounced the word 'goggles', those glasses one must wear after surgery, as 'googles'. Therefore, could 'booble' be 'bauble'? A small trinket? Had she inserted a small trinket into my eye?
But no, that can't be.
Booble. Hmm. I glance at the doctor's chest. Had my eye been accidentally poked by a booble? But no, this did not seem likely either, especially considering …
"Wait! What is a booble?" I demanded. "Did you say 'booble'?"
"Ya," she says, making her first effort at patience. She leans close and pronounces the word very carefully, "Booooble. I make boooble with air, mister," and to illustrate, she makes a little circle with her thumb and index finger. "I put booble around wound."
Bubble! She is saying bubble! Ah ha! An air bubble.
And the bubble will dissolve in about three days, she adds.
"Three days? Can't you just poke the bubble now?"
"Nooo, mister. Booble must protect eye because of you move, understand?"
So I went back to the recovery room, feeling keenly disappointed. I had so been looking forward to seeing perfectly with the right, just as had happened with the left. I took off the hospital gown and put on my clothes, cursing myself for moving. What if the booble is not effective, I worried? What if my eye is like this forever?
Well, it has been two days now, and I am happy to say that the booble is 95 percent dissolved. And my vision is incredible! Unbelievable! As I went out my front door this morning, I actually started laughing. What a world this is! What a world I have been missing for so many years now! What a world I am seeing here in Bali for the first time!
I can see the fields beyond the nearby hedge for the first time, and the white flags in the fields, and the farmers in the fields, and the buildings beyond and the little temples on the building tops and fences and cows and children running in the grass and the progression of all the cross-shaped poles of the power lines and the lines themselves and birds on the lines and individual stones under my feet on the road and the end of the road and then beyond the end of the road. My God, I have landed on a whole new planet! Or in any case on a planet that has been hidden to me for as long as I can remember.
I am smiling still as I sit in Starbucks, seeing every face near and far, of the baristas, of the customers, of people outside the windows walking in the mall or sitting at tables on the veranda. And although I am not feeling well, because of another health problem altogether, I am nonetheless feeling great!
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