My Own Story of Impaired Vision

Part Two

Last week I talked about my first Optometrist visit – with someone who initially pointed me in a very good direction, as far as understanding and caring for my eyes.

Fast forward about 20 years, and I was a young mother with a baby girl.  I was very busy just learning the ropes of having a baby, and getting settled into a new home – but to add to the busy-ness of that time, I unwisely decided to take two very demanding University courses.  So I was extremely busy all day and then, whenever the baby was sleeping, I was studying. 

Like so many others, I took my eyesight for granted and I figured that as long as I could keep my eyes open, they would work for me. 

Then, late one night after the baby was sleeping and I had finished some sewing, I noticed that my right eye felt funny and seemed to have some kind of grey film over it.  I rubbed it, and splashed water on my face as I prepared to hit the books for a couple of hours.  The eye was a little sore also, but I ignored that symptom too, and studied long into the night.

Next morning when I woke up, after a few minutes of sleepy disbelief, I realized that my right eye was completely blind.  Looking out of my left eye only, everything was clear and normal.  Looking only with my right eye, there was nothing but blackness.   With both eyes open, I saw multiple and messy images of everything, since of course my brain had had no time at all to adjust to the situation.

To say I was terrified is such an understatement, but I’ll leave out the rest of the drama, as there was a lot of it … 

On with the story; I was examined by a baffled Optometrist that day and then booked in to see a Neurologist two weeks later. 

A very long and frightening two weeks it was, with no improvement at all in that eye.  Finally, I got a diagnosis of ‘optic neuritis’, which is often a symptom of multiple sclerosis, but the doctor felt that “at least for now”,  I wasn’t presenting MS.  He said that the neuritis should clear up in about six months’ time, and I would have to cope as best I could until then.

And so I did … but I still recall the terror and the incredible difficulty I had just trying to live my life very minimally, during those months.  My case of lost sight arrived just before Thanksgiving one year, and right on cue the next spring, my eyesight fully returned over about a six week period.

I will also never, ever forget the joy of that spring!  Every flower, every colour, every nuance of light and shadow that was again clear to me was cause for unbelievable celebration.  And the icing on that cake was, of course, the sight of my daughter’s beautiful face, without distortion, halos, multiple images or any remaining blur. 

Hallelujah!

The benefit to me now is that I can empathize completely with anyone suffering from dramatically lowered vision, eye disease, visual distortion, double images – any of it – because one terrifying year, I experienced it all.  I was beyond eye exercises, beyond natural vision improvement, beyond help, except for the help of having a condition that did heal over time, thank heaven.

That saying, “You don’t know what you’ve got until you lose it” certainly applied to me, but it was a lesson well and thoroughly learned.

I know now that every day I can affect the health and strength of my eyes, by relaxing them deeply and regularly, getting lots of rest and not pushing them too hard.  It is also so important to stimulate and soothe them correctly with sunlight, and to exercise them in a healthy way.

Eyesight is precious indeed, and that’s why it will always be my great passion to help people understand how to claim the best vision and the healthiest eyes possible, for life.