"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 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.
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Episode 58
Marie grieved the loss of her vision, and still does. Yet, on a sunny August morning, she came to a realization that made all the difference in the world.
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Episode 57
Terry's doctor told him, "There's nothing more we can do. You'll never drive again," and he was distraught. Then he recalled his military days as a Marine and sailor, and that got him through.
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Episode 56
When Emma lost her sight in just a few months, she struggled to cope. She felt alone, her insecurities grew, and self-esteem plummeted. With time, she came to a new understanding and that helped her tremendously.
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Episode 55
Dave calls his experience with vision loss a slow torture. In the face of this, however, he has found a sense of inspiration in explorers, history, and an activity you wouldn't typically connect with vision loss, sightseeing.
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Episode 54
When Albert's vision decreased to the point that he could no longer read print anymore, he found it stressful. But he's found a new source of comfort that helps him quite a bit.
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Episode 53
Jayne can feel isolated living with her eye disease, spending much of her days forcing herself to focus on things that have become blurry. The stress can be overwhelming, causing her to shut down. But there's one area of life that now brings her more joy than ever before.
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Episode 52
When Jeffry lost his sight, he felt a loss of control, a loss of dignity. Then, he began his long road to empowerment, one small goal at a time.
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Episode 51
Marilyn went through bouts of anxiety and depression with her vision loss and still grieves the loss several years into her journey. She also decided to do something for herself which has helped tremendously.