macular degeneration, macular, diagnosis Behind the Wheel: Part 1 – My Macular Degeneration Journey/Journal

Behind the Wheel: Part 1

TGIF! Happy Friday! In real time it is the beginning of August, 2017. As usual, Lin and I have been pleading for ‘audience participation’ in the website and we actually got some! One of our readers who is also a member of our Facebook group has been sharing some of her experiences with Lin. Yvonne submitted a comment on one of the recent website pages.

Now a little background on how things work with comments. As I said when we started, Lin and I retain the right to refuse anything we do not think is appropriate. Advertisements are a no no. Anything too private or salacious may have us twittering over it but it does not get to the website???. Also, I reserve the right to remain the only bad influence for the site!

That said, Lin got Yvonne’s comment & did not publish it but asked her if we could share parts of what she wrote. She gave her go-ahead.

The topic? Driving with vision loss.

Why just pieces? First reason is this: it scared the bejesus out of us. Second reason: Yvonne outlined how she was going to try driving and we do not want any of you getting any ideas! We will not be responsible.

Yvonne said she was getting behind the wheel for the first time in three years. Oy vay. I would be afraid to get behind the wheel after a year and a half. I have asked my husband to let me drive in a huge empty parking lot and he has refused. He’s afraid of me behind the wheel, too.

I know riding my bike at 7 or 8 miles an hour there are some things I don’t see until I am right on top of them. At 4 times that speed I would be running right into them. Also, coming back from kayaking the other day my friend stopped for an accident. The cop was directing traffic but I could not see his hand signals. What would I have done if I were driving? Gotten out of the car and asked him what he wanted me to do?!?! Don’t think so.

Yvonne said she is not able to see the dials and gauges. Not sure what kinds of gear display her car has but I know I used to have one with the gears on the dash. Putting a car in drive instead of park or reverse instead of drive could be the last mistake I ever make….or ever want to make.

And even if a driver believes he is happily in control at 20 miles an hour in a 35 mph zone, what about the person driving behind him? Could he guarantee he is not going to pass on a double yellow and have a head-on collision? Or how about when he starts blinking his lights, honking his horn and screaming at you? Could someone even hope to maintain composure?

Another point: Yvonne was driving in a neighborhood. While I know kids don’t play outside as much as we did, some still do. Kids are unpredictable and do not follow the rules. Kill or maim a child? Kill me now because I am not sure I could live with that.

So those are my initial thoughts on that. Why did she want to drive? What happened? Tune in next page!

written August 5th, 2017

Next: Behind the Wheel: Part 2

Home