It's all about adapting

August 4, 2005 I lost my sight in Santa Fe, New Mexico. With my kind of condition one usually loses sight due to a stroke which happens as you wake up in the morning or as you put your feet on the floor. It is due to a very low blood pressure. So I probably lost my sight in the early morning but I didn't realize it until I was driving. It was the day of my niece Rebekah’s wedding reception. I was with my friend Irene and we were staying at someone's house. It was a difficult driveway to get out of and Irene directed me out of the driveway. I was focusing on what she was saying and not really about what I was seeing. And as I drove down the lane things were looking very fuzzy. I came to a stop light and didn't know whether to stop. I stopped and sort of figured out that I had to make a left turn. I started to make a left and I realized that I no longer could see what I was doing. I said to Irene, “I can't see the road.” She said, ”Pull over!” I said,” I can't see the side of the road.” She said what any intelligent person would say at this time, “Yaaaah!” Screaming, she eventually guided me over, took the wheel, and I have never driven since. It was the consensus of the people at the wedding reception that I should get to a lower at altitude as soon as possible as the stroke to my optic nerve may have been caused by the altitude. Santa Fe is at 7000 feet. We left the party, packed up and scooted out of town as fast as we could. We got down to Albuquerque and that was as low as we can go without getting our plane to Miami. I was in a bit of a shock, sad, but not dysfunctional as you can see next. As we pulled in to the parking lot of our hotel in Albuquerque, I saw a sign and I asked Irene what it said. She said that it was a casino bus that would take a hotel guest to a casino. I decided to go after dinner. Our plane did not leave until the next morning. After dinner I got on the casino bus. Irene thought I was crazy and would not let me go alone even though she dislikes casinos. We went on the bus ride and I got to the casino and started to play blackjack. I was so happy that I could do something. Once Irene realized that I was safe and could get right home on the same bus, she left, went back to our hotel, and I stayed at the casino and played and played. Irene could not believe what I was doing. She said that if she had lost her sight that day she would be crying and freaking out and here I was at the casino playing blackjack.
Although there were some crying periods, it has been a great deal of fun as well. Amazing life experiences that I could never have imagined before. I was a student at the Miami lighthouse for the blind. I was studying computer, personal care, mobility, and exercise. I especially liked the exercise as we had a marvelous trainer named Joe and he taught me strength training so my back stopped hurting and lots of balance exercises so that I did not lose my balance when I was out walking. Although I have a class schedule, there were times when I did not go to class. Sometimes I would get into a discussion with somebody and it was so interesting that I just didn't go to my next class.. After all, it's not like college whereyou get demerits for not showing up or possibly flunk the class.
One day my counselor called me into the room and sat me down. I thought, “Oh, no, they're going to throw me out for skipping classes.” I was so worried. I had started to really enjoy the computer classes and just being at the Lighthouse with people like me. But Sylvia, my counselor said,” no, we are not throwing you out - just the opposite - we are giving you an award for being the student who has accomplished the most this year in computers. The Rotary club will be giving you an award next week at a luncheon.” I was so amazed and thrilled. And this was the first of a number of awards. My exercise teacher chose me as the student who had accomplished the most in exercise class. This was an amazing shock to me. Here I am 66 years old, chubby and blind and I am being awarded for my exercise diligence. But we had a huge article about Joe and me and our exercise class in the Miami Herald. This was followed by a television show where we simulated the blind exercises we did. We even did a local radio show. The newspaper article went national and I got a call from my cousin in Connecticut who said that she had opened her newspaper and there I was exercising in the blind school. She was thrilled, sent me a copy of the article, and now I have it in my scrapbook.