My Dad received his M.D. over 40 years ago, and has practiced as an Ophthalmologist for 35 years.

The other day, he was talking to me about a recent case. He has hundreds of surgical cases every year. So, when he wants to talk about one, something special has happened. In this case, an older gentleman paid my Dad a visit. He had suffered with blindness in one eye for nearly 10 years. Upon examination, my father told him that he had a nasty cataract that, if removed, would probably return some of his vision. The man agreed to have the surgery. Very soon after, he was seeing 20/50 in that eye - which is amazing after having little to no vision for a decade prior.

Well it gets better, a month or so later, my Dad used a laser to remove some of the cloudiness in the tissue supporting the interocular lens (cataracts, the hardened, discolored natural lenses, are replaced by man-made, interocular lenses). Afterward, the man's vision further improved to 20/20, the standard for perfect vision!

I was excited to hear what the patient had to say about the miraculous return of his sight. This is what the man said, "I don't like doctors, but you're OK."

Wow!!! This guy just got vision back. One of the most important senses we have. And all he could muster was "you're OK"!!! That blows my mind.

After I had finished going on in disbelief, my Dad told me that he has experienced this numerous times in his career. He said sometimes it gets worse. They will actually complain about the level of light they now see. They had grown accustomed to the darkness that accompanies blindness, and now find their newfound ability to sense light annoying!

The lesson for me is if people can lack enthusiasm for or even complain about the gift of sight, why would we expect more in business, when our results are far less dramatic! When you do a good job, you may just have to settle for a pat on your own back!

Dad - here's to you! You're a fantastic surgeon! And I bet, whenever that man opens his eyes to look outside, watch his dog, read the paper or whatever - he will probably always take a moment to reflect on how you improved the quality of his life.