"You don't know it all."
A close call on a walk changed the way Lance thinks about living with vision loss. It reminded him to stay open, keep learning, and keep moving forward.
Hadley
“You don’t know it all.”
Lance: You can't be too sure of yourself, you really have to understand and it's a continuous education of how to read your environment and so on and so forth.
Marc: This is Hadley’s Insights and Sound Bites, where people facing vision loss share what has helped them cope and adjust.
Lance: I'm Lance Farmer and I'm from Oxford, Florida. I have the trifecta, I have glaucoma, macular, and I had a couple of strokes. I have no peripheral vision and a very narrow field of central vision.
So my first clue was in my work, I couldn't see the computer very well, but I just thought I needed new glasses. And I noticed that out in the field I was having more difficulty seeing machinery and so on and so forth. And then one weekend, my wife followed me in her vehicle and I drove home and she said, "Are you okay?" She called me and said, "Are you okay? Are you sleepy?" And I said, "No, I'm not sleepy." She says, "Well, you're all over the road. You're running up on the curb." And I said, "Well, I think I maybe need some new glasses." So then she started really kind of putting two and two together and we went to the doctor and within about three to five minutes in the doctor's chair, he said, "Oh yeah, your driving days are over." And that was the start, it just happened that fast.
Recently I was out walking with my dog on an adventure actually to find a Dairy Queen. I knew where I was at, I knew there was a sidewalk there. So I took my family pet but on the way back, I used my cane to follow the ramp, but long story short, I got out into the center of a four lane highway.
And I came face to face with a semi-truck, screeching its brakes and laying on this air horn and had a near miss there. And that really grounded me to the fact that, you can't be too sure of yourself, you really have to understand and it's a continuous education of how to read your environment and so on and so forth. So I came home, I threw that white cane in the trash and I sat down and I told Bailey, my dog, I said, "I'm done. I'm not walking anymore. We're just going to have to sit here." And that lasted about 30 minutes, regrouped and I took my wearable magnifier back to that corner, looked through the view master of the view and understood the lay of that. So I educated myself and then I got help to how to understand that intersection a little bit more.
And I think that was a turning point for being grounded, not to get ahead of yourself, but also not to give up. You don't know it all. You still have to keep learning, you still have to keep trying, you still have to be aware of your surroundings." So that experience grounded me 100% to you're not done learning,
It was very humbling, very grounding, very ... It was a good turning point to say, "Hey, don't give up, use your skillset, use your tools in your toolbox." You can survive, you can make it happen.
Marc: 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].
All Episodes
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Episode 70
The week Jessica was diagnosed with an eye disease that would progressively impair her vision, she also found out she had cancer. A few things have helped her continue to feel strong and less isolated.
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Episode 69
Jack's vision has been declining for years. The hardest part for him is that it just keeps changing, so he needs to keep adapting. A routine Jack's wife put in place for the couple has helped him cope and adjust.
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Episode 68
Losing a fair amount of her vision brought with it a series of other losses for Dia. She began to feel depressed and very fearful. However, she gradually started giving herself pep talks and reconnecting with the things that bring her joy.
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Episode 67
Julia had always lived life on her own terms. So, when vision loss meant giving up her car keys, she used a white cane or her husband's arm to guide her steps, and kept going. Still, she noticed a change in how others treated her… until she made a decision she now calls, "the best thing I ever did."
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Episode 66
When the scenario Leighann had feared for years finally happened and glaucoma took much of her vision, it hit her hard. But her desire to keep living meant challenging herself—even when it scared her.
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Episode 65
Michael's vision loss led him down a long, uncomfortable road, discovering what he had to let go of and what he could still hold on to for his future. He continues to challenge himself to try new things.
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Episode 64
Tamisue's eyesight has diminished to the point where she feels stuck between two worlds—not enough vision to function as she once did, but not fully blind. She fears her world going completely dark. However, an addition to her life has made a tremendous difference for both her and her family.
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Episode 63
The loss Tom feels regarding his vision is complicated because it is ongoing. Acceptance has not come easy. Through the years, though, he has come to approach life a bit differently.
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Episode 62
Anne's declining vision had her feeling down and sorry for herself. But two gifts—one she gave and one she received—helped turn things around for her.
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Episode 61
Glaucoma advanced to the point where Ron found it too difficult to do the volunteer work he loved in retirement. Still, he found a way to pull himself out of the hole he felt he was in and continue to give back.
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Episode 60
Diabetic retinopathy has taken more and more of Charles's vision. To cope, he is learning new approaches to life AND leaning into areas of passion that don't rely on sight.
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Episode 59
Bruce's vision had been decreasing for years. When it reached the point where he was tripping over objects and bumping into people, he felt embarrassed and kept his vision loss a secret. His wife convinced him to try something new.