Dr. Jeffery Taylor is an ophthalmologist in Paducah, Kentucky.  Recently, he went to the Dominican Republic with a Vision Outreach International team.  He sent an update that was refreshing. Something to be shared. 

"As usual, unbelievably glad I was able to make the trip [to the Dominican Republic].  For me the first day was a lesson in being humbled. I had some complications, but all the cases ended ok. I learned some valuable lessons!  Tuesday was drastically better with all of my cases going very well. Wednesday was the best yet, cases were going well and when we broke for lunch to turn off the generator for a while we saw the post op patients and did patch removal. This still gets me choked up, even after doing cataract surgery for 13 years. I think the day it doesn't affect me to watch people praise God for allowing them to see again is the day I need to stop operating.

Today I did the last surgery of the day on a guy who I think was only 50 years old who was bilaterally blind to the level of light perception. I was a little nervous as he didn't see out of either eye and had to be led around completely.  When I discussed being nervous about cases with [teammate] Dan [Siapco] , he said if you don't come down and do this no one else is going to and he will just stay blind, so don't worry about it. He makes a great point. 

Dan interviewed him after we were done and video taped it where he said he was anxious to see his bambinos again as he had not seen them in over 2 years and had not worked in quite a while because of the inability to see. We are going to video tape tomorrow's patch removal to see his response. 

What a gift we are able to share with others.  I feel privileged and very humbled to just be a part of this team. 

The surgical teaching I have received from Dan Siapco and Carlos Gomez and Evelyn Diaz has been awesome, exactly what I was hoping for; and the life lessons imparted by Jim Duryee aka Ned Flanders aka Tom Skeritt has been inspirational.  Makes me feel like I am hanging with Tom Fisher's younger, more famous brother.