Mike Zimmer will have to drive to his daughter's wedding in Dallas next week, but otherwise he doesn't expect his troublesome right eye to affect him much anymore.
Zimmer had a checkup with his doctor Wednesday and was told the retina is "perfect" and the pressure in the eye is "great" about a month after his latest surgery.
"He said he'd be absolutely shocked if anything else happened to this eye the way it is now," Zimmer said Thursday after the Vikings concluded spring workouts. "I'm just about out of the woods."
Zimmer, 61, said the gas bubble holding his retina in place is about one to two weeks from completely dissolving, which then will allow him to fly again. The Vikings coach returned June 5 from two weeks of rest at his Kentucky ranch and said he didn't suffer any setbacks coaching the final seven practices of the spring.
"It's nice we're progressing and maybe [surgery] number nine doesn't show up," Zimmer joked. "I read [a sign] on my way to Kentucky, something like cats have nine lives, you don't, so buckle your seatbelt. It was something like that. I'm hoping I don't get to the ninth life."
His vision is improving in the right eye, which was originally scratched in the Oct. 31 game in Chicago.
"With correction, it's 20/100 today, but it'll get better," Zimmer said. "I obviously don't have a lens in my eye right now. It's a bubble down here I can see, but it's going to go away in 7 to 10 days. He expects my vision to be good."
Zimmer said doctors have told him there's a "one in five" chance he may experience problems with his other eye at some point.
"But because he said we're more diligent about the things we're doing that we'd catch it much sooner," Zimmer said. "But saying that, if it's the season – I'm going baby. It's time to go. We'll have to worry about it after the season."