[Nfb-seniors] New to this...

Mon Nov 23 02:33:22 UTC 2009

Dear David,

Thank you for the reassuring reply to my letter.  I really do appreciate the
information, altho at the present time my right eye is doing all of the
seeing for me.  I am to have a silicone oil bubble placed into my bad left
eye on Dec. 3rd. to try to stop the bleeds I've been having.  My retinal
doctor will suck out the old blood, do another vitrectomy, and place the oil
bubble.  It may help to restore some of the vision I've lost due to the CRVO
of two and a half years ago.  After a recent trip to the Mayo Clinic, the
retinal doctor up there told me that there were also some atherosclerotic
changes in my good right eye, and the very early beginning of macular
degeneration that might give me similar problems in my good right eye.  So I
am just thinking ahead and trying to prepare myself for the possible loss of
vision in my right eye as well.

Hearing from people like you gives me the reassurance that I will be able to
deal with becoming legally blind if it should occur.  I would like to learn
braille while I can still see, and I did order some information from the NFB
as to use of the white cane as well as some other things.  I am 68 years of
age and still working full time as a nurse anesthetist in our small critical
access hospital up north here in the upper peninsula of Michigan, and plan
to retire from anesthesia on May 16th. of 2011, which will be my 70th.
birthday.  I still have a lot that I want to see and do while I still can.
I am happy to hear that I will still be able to pursue my hobbies of scroll
sawing, chess, and music with or without sight.  I have gotten into writing
the lyrics to my own songs, and then working out the melody and the guitar
chords later.  I also play the piano and would like to be able to keep that
up as well.

I would be interested in hearing how you do your wood working and how people
play chess without sight.  I don't think playing music would be too
difficult as I have a good ear and do fairly well without music.  I also do
hypnosis and I don't think that would be too difficult to do without sight
either, especially if I had an assistant.  I have a sort of dumb and maybe
embarrassing question for you...how do you wipe your butt without sight?  I
know that is a very stupid question, but I was just curious.

Any suggestions you might have for me of things to start doing while I still
have one good eye, would be very much appreciated.  I am very much
interested in how you do all that you do without the use of your eyes.
Again I thank you for your reassuring letter and for the three key things
that one has to do with a disability.  I am going to save your letter for
possible future reference, and again I thank you for writing and hope to
hear more in the future.

Sincerely,
Ray Juliano

On Sun, Nov 22, 2009 at 3:58 PM, David Evans <drevans at bellsouth.net> wrote:

>
> Dear Ray,
>
> I have been legally blind since the age of 16 and I have never let it stop
> me from doing what I want do.    I just do things in a different way.
> I have learned, over the years, that there are three things that every
> person facing a disability need to have.
> They are: (1). You need to keep a positive attitude so that when Life gives
> you lemons, you know how to make Lemonade and turn those negatives in to
> positives.  (2) You need access to good rehab training, adaptive equipment
> and information that will let you cope and compensate for that disability.
> (3). You need to know, and have friends, who know more about that disability
> than you do.  This is why the NFB is so great as it has so many wonderful
> people in it that lead by example and are more than willing to share what
> they know and what they have with anyone.
> Just ask your questions, we are here to listen.
>
> David Evans, NFBF and Jack the guide dog.
>   P.S.  I use saws and routers to cut wooden doll furniture and things.
> There is also a blind person's Chess group and they play by phone and
> computer e-mail as well as in person.
> I know several blind musicians and know that if you want to keep playing,
> you can.  I play instruments and don't read a lick of music.
> As an Nuclear/Aerospace Materials Engineer, my motto has always been: "the
> difficult we do immediately; the impossible just takes a little
> longer."----- Original Message ----- From: "Raymond Juliano" <
> rayj1941 at gmail.com>
> To: <nfb-seniors at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2009 1:25 PM
> Subject: [Nfb-seniors] New to this...
>
>
>   Hello,
>>
>> I am new to this, but thought that I would get involved just in case I
>> lose
>> what remaining sight I have yet in one eye.  About two years ago I
>> sustained
>> a CRVO of my left eye.  It has caused a marked loss of visual acuity in my
>> left eye along with narrow angle glaucoma.  Thus far my right eye seems to
>> be o.k., altho during a visit with a retinal specialist at the Mayo
>> Clinic,
>> he took photos of my right eye and it is showing some narrowing of some of
>> the retinal vessels where they cross over each other which could lead to
>> another occlusion of my right eye that would produce blindness in my right
>> eye as well.  I have had eye injections, lazering, and a number of
>> surgical
>> procedures in the past two years and will have a silicone oil bubble
>> placed
>> into my right eye on Dec. 3rd. to try and control the frequent bleeds I
>> have
>> been having in my left eye.  The oil bubble would remain in the eye 6-12
>> months or possibly indefinitely depending on how I tolerate it.  At the
>> same
>> time my retinal doctor would suck out the old blood and possibly do more
>> lazering to try and control the neovascular glaucoma.  I also have a tube
>> shunt in the eye for the narrow angle glaucoma which seems to be
>> controlling
>> the pressure.
>>
>> I can't imagine anything happening to my right eye or I would be legally
>> blind.  I am so grateful every time I open my right eye and can still see
>> out of it.  I love to read and I write poetry and song lyrics for the
>> guitar, and I also play the piano.  I love music, and I know I would
>> continue to play even without my sight, but it would probably be a
>> difficult
>> adaptation.  I also like to play chess and I play about 20 games online at
>> gameknot.com and I was wondering if I would be able to continue to play
>> chess if I could not see the moves.  I know that some of the great chess
>> masters play blindfolded games, but I am not now nor will ever attain that
>> level of expertise, at least not in this lifetime.  I also like to do
>> scroll
>> sawing, which I don't know how I would be able to do if I could not see. I
>> also do hypnosis, and I think I would be able to continue to do that, but
>> it
>> would be good to be able to have continued access to the many hypnosis
>> books
>> that I have collected over the years.  I am currently working full time as
>> a
>> nurse anesthetist at a small critical access hospital about 25 miles from
>> my
>> home, but plan on retiring from anesthesia within the next two years or
>> sooner depending on the stability of my sight.  At the present time there
>> is
>> no known long term cure or treatment for what I have short of a retinal
>> stem
>> cell implant, altho my doctor feels that I cure or treatment will be found
>> for my CRVO within my lifetime.  I tell him I hope they hurry up as I am
>> not
>> getting any younger...lol...I am 68 years young and I don't plan on
>> retiring, but refiring as Art Linkletter suggests doing.  I hope to have
>> some time and vision to be able to enjoy some retirement before my time
>> here
>> is up.  I have a wonderful wife, a dog, a cat, four adult children, and
>> five
>> grandkids.  I live on a 4000 acre walleye lake and I love to fish.  My
>> wife
>> is a writer and photographer and we like to travel and enjoy life up here
>> in
>> the U.P. of Michigan.
>>
>> Thanks for taking the time to read this and responding.
>> Sincerely,
>> Ray Juliano
>> _______________________________________________
>> Nfb-seniors mailing list
>> Nfb-seniors at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-seniors_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Nfb-seniors:
>>
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-seniors_nfbnet.org/drevans%40bellsouth.net
>>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 8.5.425 / Virus Database: 270.14.64/2501 - Release Date: 11/13/09
> 18:22:00
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Nfb-seniors mailing list
> Nfb-seniors at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-seniors_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Nfb-seniors:
>
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-seniors_nfbnet.org/rayj1941%40gmail.com
>