I am using this blogging site to keep friends and family informed about my life for the next 7 months or so of blindness training at the Colorado Center for the Blind. I have Usher's syndrome which results in hearing loss and progressive vision loss. Now the state of Colorado is paying for me to go through an extensive training program. There will be lots of challenges ahead for me and I am both apprehensive and excited!!!! The training consist of being blindfolded 8 hours a day 5 days a week and learning how to function completely without sight.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Big Schedule change

Today was a challenging day to say the least. I did enjoy it until I got overtired. My friend Joyce and Ayumi came to pick me up from the Center and I took them on a tour of Denver with my sleep shades on. Thankfully they were sighted so they could pull be back into the correct crossing lane every time I crossed an intersection. We took a bus from Broadway Station into Denver, ate some Japanese food, continued taking the bus into the city, walked awhile through the 16th Street Mall, stopped at a Japanese food store, and them got back onto light rail from Stout and 18th. I actually could use chopsticks with no vision. HA!! I got a kick out of that. I had a lot of trouble knowing when I got to a street, finding the low spot to cross, and figuring out my orientation. If only things were made to be blind accessible....ha yeah right. That would be too easy and I don't attract anything easy. :-0

It is really hard to do that much thinking about what is going on around you without tiring really easily. I was wiped and emotional right on top of it. I didn't cheat & peak so that is exciting for me! Emotionally I really had to deal with my fear of being totally blind. I don't know how I am going to have a normal life and do much of anything. I know I am training so that I can, but it is still so daunting. Travel and communicating is so hard and a lot of work, especially with my hearing loss. With my field test results it wouldn't surprise me if I am total within only a few short years. That freaks me out! Of course miracles happen and progression can do many weird things. So there is still a small tiny chance I will keep some vision. Likelihood of losing it all with Retinitis Pigmentosa is still pretty high. Big travel assignments and anytime I have to do something out of my comfort zone (which is always lately) tend to bring my future prospects crashing into me and leave me reeling. I need to do them, but it usually takes some time to recover from it and go back to pretending everything will be alright.
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