After a lot of thought about whether I should be blogging about this issue, I am doing it. A huge thank you to a close relative who convinced me to write about it in the hope that it will inspire others who face such problems in life.
Last year, October 2nd, was a memorable day for a reason besides it being Gandhi Jayanthi. It was the day my husband lost his vision all of a sudden. It was very scary for all us. I really can't imagine having to get up one day with absolutely no vision and grope around my own house, banging against things. But full marks to my husband who took the loss in his stride and was very very brave. Looking at him, I knew I should just be focusing on what I should do next and not brood about what has happened. With the little bit of medical knowledge I had, I realized that in case of loss of vision, especially for diabetics (my husband is one), every second becomes valuable since the vision can be retrieved only with early treatment. I prayed that this would be a temporary loss of vision and that he would get back to normal soon.
After a whole round of tests and investigations, the doctor concluded that my husband had suffered peripheral loss of vision. He also added that it was not due to diabetes (diabetics generally have central loss of vision). He said it could be due to vitamin B12 deficiency and put my husband on injections and medications. With continuous treatment, he thought it was possible for my husband to get back his vision, or at the very least, show some improvement.
After about almost a year now, my husband is showing steady improvement. Thanks to his resilience, he also manages to adjust well within his limitations. In fact, he took the blow with such a calm mind that I was amazed. How could anyone be so cool-headed in the face of such crisis? He never got irritated and neither did complain about his handicap.
This episode also threw light on how we take so many things for granted. For one, I never even knew that our vision can be affected in so many ways - loss of peripheral vision, loss of central vision, seeing floaters, having tunnel vision....
Until now, I had taken my perfect vision for granted and even wearing reading spectacles was a task for me. Now I appreciate my well being more than before and I have also learnt a few valuable lessons about how to handle a crisis .
I now know better how hard it is to survive in a city like Mumbai even with a very mild loss of vision and how difficult it must be for someone who is totally blind.
Unless someone close to us is affected we seem to be ignorant of the plight of the people around us. I just hope and pray that someday I can fall back on all these experiences of mine to make other people's life better.
