To the editor:
On Dec. 22, three years ago, I was diagnosed with a detached retina in my left eye and was offered surgery on Dec. 27 in Vancouver.
Fortunately, my daughter and son-in-law were visiting for Christmas and drove me back to their home in White Rock on the Dec. 26.
My daughter drove me into Vancouver General the next morning. The surgery was performed and I was discharged with instructions to look down for four days because of a gas bubble placed in the eye.
I was told not to go home on the Coquihalla because of the altitude, but that the Hope-Princeton would be OK.
It wasn’t. My son from Kelowna came down on the 29th to drive me home. By the time we got to Manning Park, I thought my eye was going to explode. I was given the option of going back to take the Fraser Canyon home, but since we were almost half way over, I opted to continue. The pain was unbearable, but subsided on the way into Princeton, with no after effects.
I was extremely fortunate to get such quick surgery and the transportation, as well as the accommodation in White Rock.
What is annoying is that there are fully qualified eye doctors in Kelowna, who could do this surgery right here.
But the government prefers to pad their pension plans and keep their perks rather than provide sight-saving surgery here.
It is long past time to kick that bunch out. I think two terms is the maximum that should be allowed for one party.
L. G. Maddaford,
Kelowna
