Wearing a white and silver patch over his right eye, Steve Goldberg said surgery performed free of charge Friday by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Bowling Green, was an example of God working in his life.

“I believe in the healing power of God,” Goldberg said shortly after cataract surgery at TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital. “And I was praying a lot about it, and sometimes God answers in different ways and this was his way of answering, I believe.”

That’s one reason Goldberg, 54, of Jeffersonville, Ind., wasn’t too worried about facing surgery without medical insurance.

“I’m currently uninsured as a self-employed computer guru,” he said.

Goldberg said he noticed a problem with the vision in his right eye about a year and a half ago while driving to an appointment.

He met ophthalmologist Dr. Ed Wilkins through his daughter, who works at a museum Goldberg frequently visits – the Carnegie Center in New Albany, Ind. Wilkins told him that he had cataracts and connected him with Dr. John Downing in Bowling Green, who let Paul know about the case.

“It’s just an amazing set of circumstances,” Goldberg said.

The cataracts in his right eye created a loss of depth perception, though he was able to drive and work because his left eye functions well.

It was also becoming harder for him to read, especially in the low light of the coffee houses that he visits to enjoy an espresso and conduct business. He often has to use a flashlight to read.

Golberg said he’s looking forward to life without cataracts. “It’ll be incredible,” he said.

He’s also grateful to Paul for doing the pro bono surgery. Goldberg is a fan of Paul and said he probably would have voted for Paul if he lived in Kentucky.

The surgery Friday took about 25 minutes, Paul said.

Cataracts form as a plaque on the lens behind the iris in the eye, he said. During the surgery, the lens is dissolved and replaced with a plastic lens.

Goldberg should see improvement in his right eye soon, Paul said.

“He could only see hand motions, and as long as his healing goes well, he has a very good chance of getting back driving vision,” he said.

Paul said he enjoys doing cataract surgery, calling it his first love – after his wife, Kelley.

“It’s a pretty immediate sense of feeling that you’ve done something good,” he said. “It’s more gratifying than politics because sometimes you work your whole career in politics and never feel like something good happened.”

Paul tries to do pro bono surgery three to four times a year in areas around the state. The selection of his patients often happens through recommendations of doctors he knows, though people have also written to him in the Senate to ask for help.

The surgeries also allow Paul to draw attention to some of the good work in the medical community, he said.

“I think we hear a lot of bad things about people who don’t have insurance and, you know, things are terrible in medicine, but there are a lot of good stories,” Paul said.

Some of that good work is done by Downing, who worked with Paul on the surgery. Downing also works with an organization called ORBIS International.

ORBIS International is a nonprofit organization with a DC-10 aircraft that is outfitted as an eye hospital. The organization travels to developing countries to teach doctors there how to do eye surgeries.

“I’ve been going once or twice a year since 1989,” Downing said.