"My emotions were everywhere"

Hadley

My emotions were everywhere

Presented by Douglas Walker

Marilyn: My emotions were everywhere. I guess, my thing is you have to go to the grieving process. Sometimes even now after, four years? I still, grieve sometimes.

Douglas: Hello, and welcome to Hadley’s Insights and Sound Bites podcast, where people facing vision loss share insights about what has helped them cope and adjust.

Marilyn: My name is Marilyn Bohm and I got diagnosed with, retinitis pigmentosa when I was 46. And I had vision up until, Covid hit and when it hit, it hit hard. I was very depressed. I had to go on medication, and I felt very lost. My emotions were everywhere.

And, I guess, my thing is you have to go to the grieving process. Sometimes even now after, what, four years? I still, grieve sometimes.

The other thing is the anxiety. You have to get help for that sometimes. And I have and, I have learned different techniques breathing. But it's a hard thing too. You not only get hit with depression, but some people get hit with anxiety.

I think it's the path. I believe it's a path we go on but it's in a different direction, depending on what you're looking for, for everyone with vision loss. And I, I have reached out and got help. I'm still on my journey. I turned 70 in March, and, I just keep one foot in front of the other and keep walking and facing challenges and living my life, because that is what you have to do. One of my retina specialists in Chicago tell me, I go, “what do I do now?” He goes “go and live your life.” And that's when I'm still doing.

And so, I decided to do something for myself. I put one foot in front of the other, and I always wanted to learn how to swim. And, I did. I went to the YMCA, and I can now swim four football fields, and I'm learning backstroke.

And the one thing that helped me was, I belong to a group at the center for Sight and Hearing in Rockford, Illinois, and we meet twice a month, one for a fellowship and one for Fun Friday.

And they're different eye problems. And we have people here in our group who have hearing problems. And when you're there, you feel normal. You know, you just feel really good.

Douglas: You never know who might need to hear your story. If you’d like to share with us, just leave us a message on our Insights & Sound Bites voicemail. By calling, 847-512-4867. Or, you can use your smartphone or computer and email us a recording to [email protected].