To the editor:

Thanks go to Dr. Pickel for all his years of tireless service and dedication to this community. He will be missed.

I also thank Dr. Pickel for saving my eyesight a number of years back. It was due to his quick action and sincere compassion to my situation that I have my eyesight today.

When I woke in the morning those years back and could only see in about two-thirds of my right eye, the other third was complete blackness, I was pretty sure there was a problem. I called Dr. Pickel’s office as soon as I thought someone would be there and asked them if I could get in there as soon as possible, and could I be seen by Dr. Pickel? He had an assistant at the time. They told me to come right over and I did.

After he thoroughly examined my eye he said, “You’re right, you have a problem.” The retina in my right eye had detached. He said, “Let me make a couple of calls,” and then he quickly returned to tell me that I had a 10 o’clock appointment with a specialist in Columbus. Not knowing how that would all go, I called a good friend and asked if she could drive me. She, of course, dropped everything and came right away.

After another thorough exam by Dr. Shock, he couldn’t do the surgery that day, but scheduled it for the next morning. I was told to not move my head because the tear was on the move. When I arrived there the next morning for the surgery I was by then experiencing complete blackness in one half of that right eye.

A very long story short, my surgery was a complete success but they did tell me that if the tear had been allowed to progress any further, they would not have been able to repair it and I would have been completely blind in that eye.

I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Pickel for his quick thinking and fast action that day, and I will always be thankful to him and to his dedication.

Jane Gore, Brown County

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