Morning! Odds and ends this morning. First off: I have done a lot of contemplating ‘puppicide’ as of late. Last week they got hold of my good yoga mat. They chewed the rolled end so when I unrolled it it was this ‘lovely’ pattern of indentations regularly down the mat. Both sides, of course. Alternating. Replacement: $80.
Yesterday they got into my purse and got out the charger for my handheld magnifying reader. I found a company that will replace it for $60 plus tax, shipping and handling of course. I am going to try to see if I can get the same type from an electronic store or Eschenbach. Hopefully for less? Wishful thinker here.
Take away message for you? Replacement parts are expensive. Lose or destroy your charger and you are in for a replacement fee of the better part of a C note. Be careful!
I serve as a dire warning on the first point of this page. Hopefully I can be seen as a shining example (Paraphrasing Catherine Aird) on this next one.
I took my CCTV to a seminar on Friday. I set up in front and to the side. The better to see and still not block your view, my dear.
Was I a little extra work for maintenance? Yep. They needed to get me an extension cord and tape it down. But on the plus side, I was an example of a visually impaired person FUNCTIONING and in the world. I demonstrated my ‘toys’ to my neighbor at the table (and I suspect also to the people behind me. I am a shameless eavesdropper and I suspect most other people are, too).
I also gave my mymacularjournal.com card to a man who has a friend with dry AMD. Once again, the way this man talked, his friend had been told nothing, as in not a bloomin’ thing, about how to live with visual impairment. Arrrrrgggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!
Encounters like that make me both furious and proud. Furious because we – as the AMD population – are being ignored by the system. Proud because we are reaching out and educating people every day.
Here is the pep talk: get out there. Talk about our condition. Talk about your ‘toys’. Make it known there are VIPs in your community and these people are functional members of society. You may not be speaking to other VIPs but someone may know someone who knows someone and you might change a life. I hope I was the catalyst to change this man’s friend’s life last Friday. [VIP=Visually Impaired Person]
And while we are on the topic of changing lives, a big thank you goes out to Lois Pope. Apparently Lois is a nice lady with a LOT of money. She donated the biggest cash gift ever given to Bascom Palmer hospital in Miami.
What? Got you curious, huh? Alright. That figure was $12 million.
Lois made the gift in honor of her late mother who had AMD. All of the money is to be used to build a new research center that will specialize in macular degeneration and other retinal diseases.
Once again it appears our time has come. People like Lois, the researchers at Bascom Palmer and researchers all over the world are working to fix our problem and make the lives of AMD folks better. Get out there and do the same. Each of us can be an agent for good.
Written March 18th, 2018