Almost two years ago, Darlene Olson suddenly lost sight in her left eye.

Multiple visits to several doctors couldn't give the 67-year-old Holmen woman a reason her vision was gone, but one doctor gave her hope of getting her vision back. And this week, surgery restored her sight.

Two years ago, she was at home doing housework - just another day. She said she was on the deck taking laundry off the clothesline when a sharp pain in her left eye nearly brought her to her knees.

She struggled into the house to put a cold cloth on the eye and after a half hour rest, the pain went away.

Days later and in the middle of night, the sharp pain came to her again. She said she must have passed out from the pain - the next thing she knew it was morning.

And as the night had passed away from Olson, so did the vision in her left eye.

Olson's first visit to the doctor brought no conclusions. Neither did successive visits to multiple doctors.

“Every time I came back, they couldn't figure it out,” Olson said. “But the doctors had hope because the eye wanted to work.”

With more than a year of examinations by multiple doctors, they still couldn't tell her why she had lost her vision.

Olson said a doctor in Madison told her shingles, the varicella-zoster virus that causes chicken pox, might have caused it, but she said she had no sign of a shingles outbreak. Another doctor agreed that it might have been caused by a virus, but wasn't able to peg the actual cause, she said.

Olson said the doctors were able to tell her it that it affected an inside layer of the cornea.

The cornea is the transparent dome shaped covering over the front of the eye that provides the eye with most of its focusing power. It is made of five layers and is extremely sensitive because of the many nerve endings within the layers.

And Olson knows about the sensitivity.

She said since the incident, she had severe pain even from just closing her eye. She has been wearing a contact lens on the eye to keep the lid from irritating the nerves. The pain was so bad, it would often wake her at night.

She said the remaining vision in her left eye was a white blur in the morning, but in the afternoons, she could see outlines of objects.

And because she could only see with one eye, her depth perception was off.

“It's not fun. I kept walking into furniture, and steps were a problem, too.”

But one doctor, Christopher Born with Gundersen Lutheran's ophthalmology department, gave Olson hope.

“He's been talking about the surgery for over six months,” Olson said.

Instead of a complete cornea transplant, Olson said he could replace only the bad layer. Born had performed the surgery twice in La Crosse, and both operations had been successful.

After some problems with getting a cornea for earlier scheduled operations, Olson finally got her chance at the operation Tuesday.

The surgery went fast, Olson said. It only took 45 minutes and it was painless. The surgical team froze the eye and sedated her, but she said she could still wiggle her toes.

She went back on Wednesday to check the progress, and she said Born told her he couldn't believe how well the cornea matched her eye.

“I can see more now then I have in the past 21 months,” Olson said. Now she can see the third line of the eye chart where before couldn't even see the chart.

Her vision should be at 90 percent in two months and she said within six months her vision should be back to full strength.

Olson said one of the best things about the procedure is the pain in her eye is almost gone. The night of the operation, she said she was able to sleep through the night.

Now Olson can get back to her busy life. In addition to taking care of her 89-year-old mother, she's been a volunteer with Bethany Hearten House, church ministry and other groups for many years. She has also been a longtime member of the Grandview Garden Club and Lionesses.

Regaining her sight was almost like a miracle for Olson. “It didn't sink in right away that I could see, but when it did, it was awesome! I had my penny in my pocket and it says in God we trust. And with Dr. Born, I totally trust him.”

Contact Tony Nelson at 786-6813 or tony.nelson@lee.net.