[Oagdu] {Spam?} Re: {Spam?} RE: {Spam?} Intro -- Hello to Ohio, from Ohio!

Tue May 31 22:03:46 UTC 2016

Hi Kathy,

I'm glad to hear from you on list! I know another person with a cochlear implant who is also blind, though he still has light/dark perception.

I'm very glad your medication is helping! Congestive heart failure is scary, I've heard, especially before you know what is going on. I hope you start feeling more like yourself, again; I'm glad they figure it out.

I also have heart failure, but a different type. Mine is left-sided systolic heart failure; it was caused by a chemotherapy drug I was on for a short time in 2011. I'm very thankful that my medications work (I was on three, and am on two, now)!

Lisie and Finn
lisiefoster at yahoo.com
Sent from my iPhone

> On May 26, 2016, at 9:48 PM, KathyZolo via OAGDU <oagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello Lisie and Finn, 
> 
> Welcome to the list and it was wonderful hearing all about your past
> experiences. I am totally blind and use one hearing aid in my left ear and a
> cochlear implant in my right ear. I am working with a fairly new dog since
> the first of April. She is catching on, but I really threw her a curve
> Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. My blood pressure was high and I was
> also having trouble breathing. I have been to the doctor and have medication
> now, but they think I have early congestive heart failure. At any rate, I
> will be much more focused when I venture out once more. Fortunately, I had
> someone drive me so she could give me assistance with direction because I
> was having trouble keeping focused yesterday. The medication is definitely
> working, thank God. Well, that is enough about all of my issues, but I just
> wanted to say hello and welcome. 
> 
> Kathy and Ginger 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OAGDU [mailto:oagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lisie Foster via
> OAGDU
> Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2016 6:15 PM
> To: OAGDU at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Lisie Foster <lisiefoster at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Oagdu] {Spam?} Intro -- Hello to Ohio, from Ohio!
> 
> Hello! 
> 
> I'm Lisie, with my dual-trained hearing and guide dog, Finn. He's a 75-lb.
> (perfect weight and "all muscle" according to my vet...yay!), 18-month old
> Golden Retriever who was trained by a nearby program as a hearing service
> dog. I did his guide training myself. He's now a fully trained, working,
> dual-trained hearing and guide dog. 
> 
> About me: I can still see -- for now -- well above the threshold for legal
> blindness during the day and under ideal conditions. My best corrected
> vision with thick contacts is 20/30 (they can't get my vision back to 20/15
> or 20/20 with best correction anymore, which is OK). But, at night, I have
> light perception only. If there's glare any time, I can't keep my eyes open
> because it's too painful. Sunglasses don't work for it anymore, so I just
> keep my eyes closed and hang on to the handle of my dog's harness, ha! I
> keep putting off my eye exam that I'm overdue for because I don't know what
> my acuity will be. I don't think I want to know, so I'm being quite mature
> by simply avoiding going to the doctor entirely. *laughs*
> 
> I've had high-degree myopia since I was around 7 (almost 30 years ago!) and
> it's always been progressive. My night vision is most affected, but now, so
> is my color vision and general acuity. Nothing is as bright as it used to
> be, colors are easier to mix up, and the astigmatism in both of my eyes
> can't be corrected anymore (which is really not helpful for depth
> perception). My vision loss is either a natural progression of high-degree
> myopia or it may be a long-term result of the radiation and chemotherapies I
> received six years ago for a fairly advanced, aggressive form of cancer.
> But, I'm cancer-free! So, if my vision suffers as a result of those
> treatments that saved my life, I'm not complaining! I'd much rather be
> alive, with lousy vision, than the alternative. My hearing loss is primarily
> a result of Meniere's Disease, though I've had a mild hearing loss and
> tinnitus as far back as I can recall. It's a strange hearing loss, though. I
> can hear people's voices (especially women's) better than I can hear high
> and low pitched sounds, like sirens, fire alarms, thunder, or dogs growling.
> My audiogram is very unusual, but is called a reverse cookie bite loss.
> 
> So, I wanted to say hi! We're from Ohio, about an hour west of Columbus. GO
> BUCKEYES! Haha, had to add that. My dad, grandpa, and 2 uncles all went to
> THE Ohio State University. I graduated from Wright State University near
> Dayton with a Bachelor of Arts, and then graduated from the University of
> Dayton School of Law. I actually was accepted by OSU's law school; now I
> wish I'd gone there, instead, just to experience Ohio State.
> 
> About my dog: Finn is an amazing, incredibly smart, funny, sweet, totally
> goofy dog. He's my son who happens to be a dog! He loves working. I don't
> believe he quite realizes he's working, though, because he loves to do it so
> much. He is fully trained as both a hearing service dog (and certified by
> our program, though I know that's not needed) and as a guide dog. I trained
> my first two hearing service dogs to work as guides, really as a challenge
> to see if I could do so, and also because I knew my vision could become
> worse in the future. 
> 
> Finn is an incredible guide and thrives on his work. A couple of months ago,
> we showed our program's director (who also ended up training us!) how we
> work together as a guide team. She, despite being the director and head
> trainer of a longstanding service dog program, had no idea guide dogs could
> do all that they do, with direction from their humans, *smiles*. I believe
> she was genuinely stunned after watching us work. I think what surprised her
> the most was watching from a short distance away as we walked a short route
> along country roads without sidewalks. Finn LOVES shorelining for some
> reason, so as usual, he guided me in a perfect, steady "shoreline" at our
> usual fast pace (this was during the day, with my eyes closed so I didn't
> give Finn any accidental cues or directions). 
> 
> At one point during our route, an SUV or pickup truck (something pretty
> heavy, from the way the blacktop on the road felt as it passed and from the
> sound that even I heard easily!) drove toward then passed us as we were
> shorelining. Neither Finn nor I flinched or worried about it because I knew
> exactly where we were (we were right along the place where the blacktop met
> the grass, taking up very little space), I knew the truck had plenty of
> space, and I trust my dog. I don't think our trainer quite realized what my
> dog, or the two of us together, could do until that point! Finn loves and
> takes the shorelining too far, sometimes, I think, like last weekend, when
> he was determined to shoreline in Walmart along the wide, front aisle by the
> checkout lanes and registers, LOL! He's a funny, funny and strange little
> dog!
> 
> I've encountered very few people with guide or service dogs nearby, though
> I've seen MANY more when I've been in Columbus! I know one woman nearby has
> a guide dog from GDB; the school was obvious because of the dog's harness
> *grins*. I think the dog was a yellow Lab or yellow Lab/Golden cross, and
> there may have been a trainer working with them, but I'm not sure. I
> wondered if she was doing GDB's "in home" training. 
> 
> Second, there used to be a man near me who had a Vizsla guide dog. I'm
> guessing they probably graduated from Pilot. They walked FAST! That dog was
> as focused and as quick as any dog I've ever seen *grins*! 
> 
> And, finally, the third guide team nearby is a woman I've encountered
> several times at my vet's office. She's had at least two owner-trained guide
> dogs. Both have been enormous, mostly-white, surprisingly gentle, adorable,
> and very well-trained Boxers. She's now working with her successor dog; I
> was at the vet's once when she had both her working guide and her guide dog
> in training (her husband, I assume he was, anyway) was with her, holding the
> dog-in-training's leash. The first thing I noticed was that her dog's
> harness was from Bridgeport Equipment. It may be a little sad that I
> recognize harnesses that well...LOL. 
> 
> If you've read this entire book, I mean message, thank you! Just wanted to
> introduce us to the list, say hello, and thank you for asking and letting us
> join! I've only been a member of the NFB for about two months, and I love
> it. I also love the NFB free cane program since the canes they give to you
> for free are my favorite type (I don't need to use it much anymore, thanks
> to my pup!). 
> My current cane, which is little too short, once was all white, but now it's
> decorated with colored duct tape turning it into a purple and turquoise cane
> with wide strips of white reflective tape in four places. So, of course, my
> dog's harnesses (one for lighter use during the day, one with a rigid handle
> for guiding at night) match my cane, with touches of purple, turquoise, and
> white on them all. Our guide harness is black leather, as is the handle, but
> the handle has turquoise tape decorating it along with reflective tape,
> haha. Maybe I should've gone with scarlet and gray?
> 
> Thank you again!
> 
> Sincerely, 
> 
> Lisie and Finn, the Sleepy One
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lisie and Finn
> lisiefoster at yahoo.com
> Sent from my iPhone
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