This is the new normal. I ride transportation. I set up my portable CCTV. Fire up my computer with ZoomText and I go to work.
New clients get a mini-course in vision loss. “This is my CCTV. It is nothing more than a magnifier….I do not see faces. If I come into the waiting area and look confused, I cannot identify you. Tell me you are here.”
At the end of the day, I get a ride home. If I have a class, I get more rides. “My” people are incredible. Friends who give me regular rides have now started finding their own substitutes! I am cared for.
Bottom line here is this: the angst is gone. I have settled into my new normal. It is pretty much like the old normal in many ways. One of those ways? It is boring.
Because it has become the same old, same old, I have less to write about. Or should I say I have less of substance to write about. I am also no longer servicing those who are supposed to be my target audience.
Could I have imagined coming out the other side (or at least sort of. This ride is not over yet) and having this all become humdrum when I first lost my vision? Most probably not. I needed someone to understand where I was then. Being told it was not so bad was…shall we say irritating?
Which brings me to the point of this missive. At this time in my disease, things are ridiculously stable. Thank you, God! Thank you! Thank you! I am losing visual functioning at an “average” rate and that is either very slowly, slowly enough I can keep adapting easily or a combination. For now, I am pretty much plateaued. No angst and no new skills to learn. I am hoping this state stays forever…or at least until there is a cure and I can stop dealing with this mess.
The downside of things being stable, of course, is boring, chatty posts. Not relevant to where most of you are at all.
What I am proposing is a hiatus on regular posts. That may be two weeks, two months or two days! I really like to write! Lin will give me “assignments” on occasion. We’ll be revisiting early pages with updates.
Why don’t you give me assignments, too? Some of you have said you envy my still having enough vision to be able to do research. Take advantage of my having enough vision while I still have it. What would you like me to look at and pick apart?
Of course, many of you know I cannot shut up for long periods of time so I am practically guaranteed to pop up from time to time just because. I plan on being particularly active when (not if. I try to always be positive even though this quest is not going well right now) I get into a clinical trial….or if I have a significant loss in vision. Bite my tongue!
So, the question is: anything special you want me to write about? If not, I will try to take some time off.
I also have a request: who among you – especially those not far along this road – would like to write a few pages about his/her challenges and successes? Any takers? There have to be some frustrated authors among you. This is your chance.
Lin/Linda: this is the first of the “revisited” series: In the Beginning – Revisited.
Written September 9th, 2018