When You Come to a Roadblock: Slow Down and Stop

One thing is certain.

Change will come.

Changes will be unexpected and will happen when you least expect them. Some changes will be welcome and you will embrace them. Some will be changes you might never have wanted and really won't want to embrace them and invite them inside for a visit. You have no choice in the matter. It is guaranteed that you will have changes as they are a part of our life. Some of the changes will be life altering. Sight loss is life altering. Sudden blindness comes unexpectedly and you are stopped in your tracks, confused, and uncertain what your next step will be. This blog is devoted to sight loss issues and how an artist deals with this situation. This is my way of communicating with others who have experienced sight loss, or are helping someone through this journey.

Recently, Channel 21 Youngstown, Ohio, WFMJ TV did a short feature on the changes that came to my life when in a few days time, I was plunged into a world of sight loss. As a visual artist, it would be the most dreaded situation. In this video I discuss the major change that I had three years ago, and how I have continued to be an artist despite the change.

The biggest difference in my life now, is that I was forced to slow down and stop for awhile.

It was like coming suddenly upon a stop sign along the road. You have to stop immediately and just sit there awhile until the light changes and you can then proceed on your journey. For a person like me who lived an intense life of teaching, lecturing, traveling, writing, and making art it was a sudden jolt.

The thing that caused the loss is not so important. What is important is what we do after the change happens to us.

I am learning to practice "mindfulness" during the day. Instead of continuing on at the frantic pace I had lived as a professor I find that now I have slowed down and have time to really appreciate my life so much more.

My mantra for the day is "Slow Down and Live."

Click Here for Video

Google Alerts

Did you know that you can set your email to receive notices about any topic you may want to follow? Yes, when a new blog is posted you will get an update telling you about the post. It will arrive on your Yahoo E-mail. All you need to do is set your email setting to receive these new posts through blogs or other sources, and you will get them daily in in your "in-box" at Yahoo. The SEARCH is done by using Google. It is called a Google Alert.

You can go to the "google search" information and set the paramaters for using this research service. You can have access to .edu sites, newspapers, and blogs. This will save you a lot of time, and bring the information directly to you in-box. I love it.

Just type in the different topics that you want to get daily information about. Mine is set for "sight loss" as I want to get information on this topic. Another one for me is "Ischemic Optic Neuropathy" since I have this condition and like to be kept updated on any research being done and current thoughts about the condition. Other things that interest me are also on my Goggle Alert list, and I get those listings, too. You can follow people or places this way as well.

I hope this help you. I like to do posts here that might help other people who have sight loss and I like to post articles that I write about my own ways of copping successfully with this handicap. I am a visual artist, author, and former professor of Fine Arts and Humanities. Let me know if I have helped you in some way, or if you need to ask me a question. I would be delighted to help you if I can.

Ischemic Optic Neuropathy

What is Ischemic Optic Neuropathy?

How is it diagnosed"

What is the treatment?

Ischemic Optic Neuropathy is often associated with hypertension. This would be in 40% of the cases.

Other causes could be diabetes, at 20%

That leaves 40% due to other causes, which are really unknown. That is where I fall in, unknown cause of my disability.

Typically, this condition is seen in older persons, in the 70s or above.

For me, it happened when I was 64 years old. I was told I am very young to have this condition.

What happens when Ischemic Optic Neuropathy stirkes?

It is SUDDEN. One night you go to bed with normal vision, and in the morning you cannot see very well. My vision was blurred upon waking up one morning. I thought I just needed a good night's rest. But, my vision never cleared up, and remained blurred. A visit to my eye doctor revealed I had a "big problem." And, I was sent immediately to a specialist, and had emergency blood work done that day at the hospital.

It is characterized by acute, sudden vision loss, usually in one eye, and presents often with optic disc edema, blurred disc margins and flame-shaped retinal hemorrhages. An altitudinal visual field defect is also usually noted. If it is of the arteritic variety, then swollen, tender, temporal artery is involved along with pain on the side of the face between the outer eyes and ears. Lab tests and biopsy confirms the diagnosis. Treatment includes systemic steroid administration usually methylprednisone 1 gram IV each day for 3 days, then tapering the dosage until resolution. I was put on this medication immediately, and then had surgery for a temporal biopsy. I did not have the arteritic type of Ischemic Optic Neuropathy. I was thankful for that.

In my case it happened on January 1,2007 in my right eye. Then, ten months later, it happened in my left eye. More blood work, more steroids, and another surgery for biopsy followed the second episode. It is now 3 years since my journey into sight loss began.

Walking by Inner Vission

This new blog will discuss issues of sight loss and blindness as I am experiencing them daily in my life as an artist and author. I was Professor of Fine Arts and Humanities at Geneva College, Beaver Falls, PA until sudden sight loss changed my life and my occupation.

There was no warning or indication that I would ever lose my sight. On January 1, 2007 I lost my eyesight in my right eye. The diagnosis is Ischemic Optic Neuropathy. I continued on teaching my classes, leading trips to Europe and Puerto Rico that year. I adjusted to the use of only one eye. Then, just as suddenly as the first episode, in October 2007 I experienced the same sudden loss of vision in my left eye.

Since that time, I have begun to learn how to walk using the inner vision that we all have. It has been an interesting journey over the past two years. I will write this blog to share my journey, _Walking by Inner Vision_

I am still interested in all the things that I had a passion for before sight loss. I still love art, poetry, literature, and music. I still love traveling and meeting exciting new people that I encounter on my pathway. Most of all, I find that I love hearing the stories of others who have had vision loss and learning how they do things and how they now see the world. I will share my own vision through this blog.

I am always open to hearing from others. You may have sight loss, or you may have a friend of family member who has sight loss. Please write to me at my email address if you have questions, comments, or just want to chat with me. Let's keep in touch.