Category: Sue’s New Page

Sue’s been waiting a long time (it seems to her) for the O&M Therapist (Orientation & Mobility) and they’ve finally worked together.  She now has career advice for us.

O & M

One of the many endearing things about Sue is that she is honest.  She did something she should not have and she turns it into a lesson for us all.

The Attack of the Dishwasher

The topics in this page range from her photograghy & the show her photos are in, Dylan Thomas, not wanting to be road kill and libraries.   She calls it a hodgepodge, I call it…

Loose Associations

Testing for various eye problems has come a long way in the last 10 years.  An important part of screening for AMD & other macular problems is the OCT scan.  Do you know what it is and how it works?  Do you have to prepare for it?  Sue tells all.

Smile for Your Picture!

Not every day is 24 hours of dealing with issues related to your vision. Sue may be an exception in that she needs to maintain a high level of stimulation and activity.   She does get bored so she’s found ways to deal with that…of course!

SSDD

Sue was first referred to a stem cell clinical trial in August 2015.    It is now 1 year and 3 months that she has been waiting…often impatiently she admits.   When she wrote this page, she’d pulled everything out of her DBT ‘bag of tricks’ – distress tolerance and opposite to emotion skills, refuting and reframing thoughts.  Did they work?  She then tried thought stopping and describes what that is and how it works.

Stop!

We are betting that you’ve seen the movie ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and remember that at the end of the movie she clicks her heels together 3 times and she is returned to her ‘real’ life.  How many times have you wished that you could return to your life before AMD?  If only it was that easy.  What do you do instead?

Summer of My Discontent

Sue continues to wait for word that the clinical trial that she expects to be in has started.  It’s hard not to worry that her vision continues to decline.   Instead of giving in to that worry, she’s continues to practice the skills that she teaches: distraction and mindfulness meditation.

Waiting for the Go

 

This Thursday in the US is Thanksgiving Day which many people consider to be the beginning of the holiday season. For some people, the holidays are not times of joy and happiness.  Sue talks about some of the myths that may behind some of the reasons and she offers some ideas to combat…

The Holiday Blues

I gave Sue some ideas for topics (yes, you could call them assignments ::smile::).  The previous page was her way of getting to the subject of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).  In a few days, she’ll talk about ‘the holiday blues’.  About SAD, there’s research that shows that for some people, sitting in front of a ‘light box’ with a bulb that simulates normal sunlight will help them deal with SAD.  However, even though the warnings about blue light are controversial, there is no use tempting fate so those with retinal disorders and those trying to prevent them should NOT use the ‘light boxes’ that you see recommended.  So, what now? Maybe the best advice is for us to go to a sunny place!

I Vote for Tahiti

 

For those of us in the North Hemisphere, this is the time of year when the amount of darkness increases.  With that increase, we know that some animals will go into hibernation.  And some people seem to do the same.  Sue talks about the historical & cultural significance of hibernation and introduces Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).  This is the first page of several where she addresses SAD and how some treatments relate to AMD.

Time to Hibernate

It was Sue’s birthday on July 17th.  It’s normal for us to look back in our lives and Sue is no exception.  In this page, she reviews what vision care and blindness were like in 1953 the year we were both born.   Read how she comes to the conclusion that “All in all, this is the best time yet in history to be going blind.”

Yes, Virginia

Sue is used to being productive and being effective in whatever she sets out to do.  That was before her vision worsened.  She has struggled with coming up with a ‘new normal’ which right now means that if she has 5 reports to write and she gets one done, that is…

Good Enough

Sue is honest with us.  She admits that she’s messy, that there are times when she belittles herself for things that she hasn’t done or hasn’t done right.  She points out that we wouldn’t talk to our worst enemy the way we sometimes talk to ourselves.  How do we change that…

Stinkin’ Thinkin’

The research study that Sue has been waiting for has been delayed…again. She’s been waiting since August of 2015.  Instead of wasting time feeling sorry for herself, she’s filling out the forms to be registered for other research studies that might find her eyes ‘attractive’.

LowVisionMatch.com

I don’t think any of us will fault Sue for having missed a page.  Don’t tell her I said this, but it’s pretty remarkable that she’s written 146 pages that we have published and I have quite a few more waiting in the wings.  Maybe we’re just trying to be like all the movie and book prequels! ::smile::

Name That Emotion, the Prequel

The name of this page sounds like it’s a game show but it’s not.  Sue tells us how the different parts of the brain interact with brain chemicals to rev us up and calm us down.

Name That Emotion

It’s a Double Header in honor of the World Series in the US!  Good luck to both teams.

Sue’s a great teacher.  But she knows that it’s one thing to teach with students who are ‘live’ as in a classroom where questions can be answered at the time as opposed to writing what will be read by you where comments are the only way of knowing how she did.  Based on a comment on the Duck or Rabbit? page from a few days ago, she’s written 2 new pages to further explain the concepts. Keep those comments coming!

You can read the first page and go to the second from there or click each individually.

What?

Preconceived Notions

For those of you who celebrate Halloween…Happy Halloween!  You might think when you read this page that we planned to release it today (look for the Great Pumpkin!) but actually Sue wrote it earlier.  We moved it up since I’m sure no matter where you live, you know it’s election time in the US.  If you need assistance, ask because you are entitled to get help.

We Won’t Discuss It

I’m just going to give you a word and show you a photo.

Duck

What do you see?  Click here to go to Sue’s new page.

Sue’s never been one to spend a lot of time visiting doctors.  But with the AMD and high blood pressure, there are 2 of them she sees regularly.  She has been able to schedule them on the same day which helps her when arranging for transportation.   She tells what it was like to come out to get her ride only to find that she couldn’t make out which one of several white vans was hers.  Should she hold up a sign that says…

XYZ Transit

Sue’s been waiting many months to hear that the stem cell study she is hoping to be part of is starting.  She’s seen Dr. Regillo twice, the first time in August of 2015 and then again in February of 2016.  She’s been in touch with her contact at Wills Eye Hospital, using holidays to ‘squeak’ and remind them that she is patiently (most of the time) waiting.   In April she was told the study was delayed for another 6 months, that the problem is with the corporation that was sponsoring it.  It’s July & she has looked again to see if there are any other options but this study is the one she is going to continue to wait for.

Hurry Up and Wait

Sue has been able to get the equipment that she needs to be functional again thanks to the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) and their division Blindness and Visual Services (BVS). The CCTV they provided has enabled her to go back to work.  So what happens when something as simple as a 3 cent pop rivet comes out?  They send her an entire new machine!  Not everyone has the benefit of these services so Sue talks about what the difference is between a ‘refurbished’ and ‘pre-owned’ device and shares were you might find these.  As for her old CCTV, she hopes that it will at least go…

To a Good Home

Sue has a combination of software/apps and hardware/devices to enable her to do what she needs to do.  She’s been working with the BVS Vision Rehabilitation Therapists to find those items and save money in the process.  By now you should know what a CCTV is. They are expensive!  With a special stand to hold her iPad steady and the features of and apps for her iPad, she’s got some of the features of a much-more-expensive CCTV.  She also shares what other ‘goodies’ she now has to help her do what she needs and wants to do.

Good Stuff Cheap

I have a bad habit of posting things before I have my second cup of coffee in the morning. Yesterday I posted from the website what was supposed to be Sue’s page ‘Shots in the Dark’. The link, however, went to a page I wrote ‘Doctor, Doctor, It Hurts When I Do This!’ which is a page I wrote some time ago. I didn’t think that many people would get to it before I fixed it but when I looked at the statistics on that page’s ‘hits’ from yesterday, there were LOTS who did! So I’ve decided to put it in the list and into circulation. Here it is if you didn’t see it. If you did NOT see Sue’s page, here’s that link, too.

Doctor, Doctor, It Hurts When I Do This!

Shots in the Dark