Anyone have experience of recovery following loss of an eye?

[Chancer]

After a stupid and easily avoidable accident and a week in the specialist eye hospital I am currently blind in one eye and have accepted that it will probably remain that way.

I am amazed at how difficult some of the easiest things that we all take for granted are now but also how quickly I seem to have adapted to most of them.

I must refrain from working, although it goes against my nature, (I had been living on my savings whilst converting my property into rental apartments) until it is safe and I am able to do so, perhaps I may have to rethink the future dependant on to what degree I will be able to continue as before.

I would like to hear from someone who has already adapted to living with one eye (ironically it was the better of the two and using the computer is now very hard) as to how they adapted and what if anything is still difficult for them.

The specialist says that I can still drive if I have 10/10 vision in the other eye, I am long sighted so only use(d) glasses for reading and the computer not driving, I am now quite happy behind the wheel, the most difficult part was to regain the confidence in my own judgement, just like being a learner again. I do however still have a UK driving license, what is the view (sorry!) of the DVLA?

[Dick Smith]

That's not good news, JR, sorry to hear it. I hope your fears turn out not to be justified.

Someone else will know more than I do, but I believe that as long as you can pass the general vision test with one eye you are OK - that was the case with my son who has minimal vision in one eye, but strong vision in the other.

I have talked to him about having sight only on one side, and he now compensates fully (it has been with him since childhood) using small head movement to compensate for binocular vision.

Good luck - I hope you get the best possible outcome.

edit - I've just seen your tagline - was the accident WW1 related - don't answer if you don't want to!

[Hoddy]

Thankfully, I have no direct personal experience, but my nephew recently lost the sight of one eye. He is a forester by trade and spends his days weilding a chain saw. He always wears the appropriate protective gear including goggles. On this occasion he was just 'putting up a bit of a fence' for a friend when a nail broke and flew into his eye.

A year or so on, he finds that he can do virtually everything as he did before.

The surgeon has offered him the opportunity of an operation which might restore his vision somewhat, but he isn't sure that it's worth the trouble and is considering it.

I hope that you find this reassuring and that you will find your confidence restored soon.

Best of luck.

Hoddy

[Val_2]

I wish you all the best and hope things work out OK. Posts like this,although difficult to put down in words are justified in showing just how a life can change in a matter of seconds through something that could have been avoided and we are all guilty of doing such things to cut corners or save time.

[Chancer]

Thank you all for your replies.

I consider myself  very lucky to have survived and be enjoying every new day, if in one year or whenever like Hoddy's nephew I will be able to do most things then that is fantastic.

In fact a lot of the problems I am experiencing are not in the adjustment but realising and coming to terms with the fact that the remaining eye was the weaker one, now, on its own I am very aware of its limitations for close work and reading etc. However an eyetest and some new glasses should improve that.

Dick I was stupidly disactivating some WW1 munitions!

I had happily lived side by side with them as ornaments until my family visited and pressurised me to get rid of them. On reflection of what could happen to say the Pompiers in a fire, I decided that I had to either hand them over to the service deminage or make them safe to keep.

The addition of a little alcohol to the equation and the result, with hindsight was inevitable.

[Sunday Driver]

[quote user="J.R."]

Dick I was stupidly disactivating some WW1 munitions!

[/quote]

Plonker.....[:D]

Seriously though, hope you get things sorted. 

I had a heart attack a couple of months before our move to France.  All our family, friends and work colleagues came out with the "of course, the France move is off, then?".  No fear.

Sold the UK house and everything in it, put the precious belongings into storage, then set off in the camper with motorbike on the trailer - into the blue yonder to seek out a new life.  Found a house a few weeks later....

There are lots of things I now have to be careful with, but you easily adjust.  Life is still wonderful.

 

[Dick Smith]

Well in that case you are a lucky man!

But a lot of others have done the same, you are not alone by a long way. It always seems sensible up until the last moment...

[Poppy]

Sorry to hear about your eye J.R but.don't worry. I lost the sight in one eye many many years ago and was left with the weaker one. It slowly got stronger because it was obviously the only one being used. Within a short time I got used to the situation and now never ever think about it. It has never stopped me doing anything. You will soon adapt. It doesn't seem to have caused Gordon Brown any problems.

Poppy

[Rose]

Hi JR... easy to say now but don't worry you will adjust! 

I was diagnosed with an illness that has left me with permenant sight loss in one eye.  You will find that your body does compensate and you will be able to do what you did before!  I found I got headaches and my sight was fuzzy to start and I found it more difficult to focus up close... but after a while I stopped noticing and everything seems normal now. 

I do wear glasses but only as I did before.  Maybe as my vision was lost over a period of weeks I was able to adjust more easily? 

Oddly I notice the loss more in the dark... where I lost sight I am left with  holes of nothing in my vision... when it's very dark I can see the 'holes' as they seem blacker that the dark?  if that makes any sense to you!  [8-)]  Anyway, it isn't a problem... how can I explain this... I don't know what I can't see, as I can't see it... so my view/image of the world always looks ok to me?  does that make sense! 

Hope you soon start to feel more confident that all will be well... I don't think about it now... it's just how it is! [:D]

[Rose]

[quote user="Poppy"]

Within a short time I got used to the situation and now never ever think about it. It has never stopped me doing anything.

[/quote]

Hey snap Poppy... great minds must think alike![:)]

[Poppy]

PPS

Really liked your phrase ' I don't know what I can't see, as I can't see it...so my view /image of the world always looks ok to me'

A brilliant description of exactly how it is and it always is/looks fine [:D]

A one eyed Poppy who thinks she has two.

[Chancer]

Thanks once again and keep them coming!

[Rose]

We seem to be cheering you up JR!  between us we've got quite a few eyes! [;-)]

[Chancer]

Thank you all for your messages and pms of support, i return thgis afternoon for another opertaion, after the first I could make out shapes and coilurs but ther was a haemorage on tuessday and I lost even that, at my examination today (I also went back at the time) nothing had improved and he said it was "grave" and they want to operate again tout de suiet;

i will post again when i return, thnks again.

[cooperlola]

All the best, JR.

[Hoddy]

Good luck, JR.

Hoddy

[AnOther]

My sympathies JR but as others have said I'm sure you will almost certainly adjust to the point where you'll hardly know the difference.

It's truly amazing what the human body can cope with and compensate for but above all I think it's crucial to keep a positive outlook (no pun intended!).

I recall a good many years ago that an experiment was carried out with a pair of glasses which inverted everything. Obviously wearing something like that would be massively disorienting however, within the space of a very few days, some of the subjects had completely adjusted and were able to function 100% normally with them.

I have personal experience of this actually as very close friend of mine lost an eye in an unprovoked street attack about 4 years ago (his best eye of course!) and although it has been pretty tough going for him now, if you didn't know it, you'd hardly realise he only had one eye at all. Ironically there was an upside to the tragedy because it forced him to sell his business and adopt a radically different lifestyle which in hindsight turns out to have been a good move which he's reaping the benefit of. He's poorer financially for sure but richer and happier in other ways and has little or no stress in his life any more.

It's even possible to find humour in the situation. He now has a glass eye which initially was prone to falling out, particularly when he was laughing, and in fact did so once, onto the dinner table from where it rolled onto the floor narrowly missing the cat which just provoked even more raucous laughter as he retrieved it.

Another example, his name is Ian and he has friend also called Iain (the Scottish spelling) whom he introduces to others as Iain with 2 i's [:)]

Unsurprisingly there are web sites dealing with so called monocularity e.g.

www.losteye.com/

www.one-vision.org.uk

And even a book www.asingularview.com

If you can manage to keep your head in the right place JR then I'm sure in time you'll come fully to terms with it and I wish you all the best for the future.

[AnOther]

JR

I taken the liberty of asking my pal Ian (with 1 eye that is !) if he would mind me putting you in touch with him for a bit of first hand support, no obligation of course.

I've PM'd you his email address.

Good luck

Ernie

[Chancer]

Thank you Ernie

I saw the PM which just said Ian with one i and thought what the hell is that all about!!!!! Now I know.

Thank you to you all for your kind messages of support, you can see frpm my posting under finance that my spirit has recovered, well the good news is that they eye is also slowly recovering.

Aside from the fact that I am forbiden from doing anything but reposing I have adjusted very well to the loss and if I were allowed to restart my work I dont think that there is anything that would get the better of me. In a strange sort of way it was the brain that had to do most of the adjusting, physically I just had to find differnt ways of doing the most mundane and suprising things like balancing food on a fork and putting it in my mouth on the blind side, - answer swop hands! Also surprising was that afger the second operation I had to relearn everything again although much easier with the benefit of experience.

The vision is slowly returning but very blurry like swimming underwater without a mask or goggles wheras before ot was like swimming in tomaoto soup. I seem to have a full field of defective vision which will improve with time and a further 2 or 3 operations.

Every cloud has a silver lining and I am determined that like your friend my life will change for the better, I have not drunk alcohal since the accident, nearly 4 weeks now and intend to remain sober, this would have been impossible for me if not for the accident. My French has improved immensely during my stay in hospital as I only had French visitors, watched French TV and chatted to lovely French nurses, you tell me where you can get an intensive course like that with full bed and board for 17 eoros per day!

I have even supervised someone to relign my sattelite dish and fitted an anolugue reciever to watch only French channels from now on (with the aid of sub-titrage) again Sky TV was a drug that I had not been able to give up until now.

 

Good night and god bless

[Salty Sam]

[quote user="J.R."]

Dick I was stupidly disactivating some WW1 munitions!

I had happily lived side by side with them as ornaments until my family visited and pressurised me to get rid of them. On reflection of what could happen to say the Pompiers in a fire, I decided that I had to either hand them over to the service deminage or make them safe to keep.

The addition of a little alcohol to the equation and the result, with hindsight was inevitable.

[/quote]

JR, while I sincerely hope you make a rapid recovery and readjustment to your disability, could I ask the question - what on earth possessed you to try and make safe an item of ordnance? From your actions coupled with the odd drink or two, leads me to believe you have no experience of unexploded ordnance or the items would not have been in your house in the first place!

There is no doubt about it, you have been extremely lucky. In March this year, a 21 year old Frenchman was killed by a mortar bomb he discovered at Verdun. Explosives experts went on to remove a further 2 - 3 tons of explosive ordnance from his house.

Sadly in April, two members of the French Army Unexploded Ordnance Group were killed while dealing with old munitions. (Perhaps you might like to reconsider how inappropriate your tag line is!).

I would suggest to anyone who visits WW1 or WWII battlefields - Look but don't touch! There are thousands of tons of unexploded items still out there. They may have lain in the ground for 90 years and the fuze may have disintegrated, but the contents are just as dangerous today as they were back then.

[Chancer]

Actually far more dangerous, I have learnt a lot on the subject since then, as the process of oygenation takes place the explosive gradually becomes less powerfull but much more volatile/unstable. Certain munitions form crystals due to electrolytic corrosion between the disimilar metals which on their own can trigger the explosive when disturbed or dismantled. All are expected to be inert after 500 or so years but in the meantime become more and more unstable

The items ( german rifle bullets) were always in my house, I discovered them in an ammunition pouch hidden in the grenier. I am not a WW1 fan and dont fieldwalk looking for memorabilia. The remaining bullets I handed to the service deminages.

I know of local people from farming families who for geneartions have been knocking the fuses off live shells that they have ploughed up to weigh in at the scrap yard, one lost his uncle (quite leterally as ther was very little trace left of him) doing just that.

What is worrying is that at the local scrapyard they have two oil drums filled with the brass fuses that locals have removed with cold chisels and then weighed in for the scrap value, the yard then keeps them to one side to sell to collectors.

Live shells left at the side of the road marked with flouro paint waitinf for the deminage are a very common sight here, all the locals and children give them a wide berth and treat them with the necessary respect.

No-one is more aware than me of what a lucky escape I have had and of how stupid I was and I am determined that some good will come out of this event, I have given up alcohol, its early days only 4 weeks but I have never managed to be strong enough in the face of temptation before. The deminage guys are my heros.

PS

I have removed the tag line Salty Sam, thank you for making me reflect on it.

Whilst before I would have said that there is always someone who could be offended by anything, the widows of these brave selfless souls should not have to see anything like that even in jest.

[Salty Sam]

[quote user="J.R."]

No-one is more aware than me of what a lucky escape I have had and of how stupid I was and I am determined that some good will come out of this event, I have given up alcohol, its early days only 4 weeks but I have never managed to be strong enough in the face of temptation before. The deminage guys are my heros.

PS

I have removed the tag line Salty Sam, thank you for making me reflect on it.

Whilst before I would have said that there is always someone who could be offended by anything, the widows of these brave selfless souls should not have to see anything like that even in jest.

[/quote]

Good on you J.R.[:D]

 

[Chancer]

An update

I was detained for a further 5 days at my out patients appointment because there had been further bleeding caused by ocular presuure (as in glaucoma) causing in turn another detachemnt of the retina, they operated for the 3rd time using gas and silicone to reattach it so it is pretty much back to square one again re the healing and further operations.

So whilst once again I have no vision in the eye (after twice regaining some) what has really amazed me is how well the brain has adjusted and my confidence returned, in fact as a couple have said I am now unaware of the loss or I am no longer aware of what I cannot see any more.

I still cannot work or do anything remotely involving effort to avoid yet another setback but in terms of every day life - cooking, eating, cleaning, dressing, driving etc I have no problems at all, granted I drive much slower (I got 74mpg the other day on a 10 mile journey) and generally take longer to do things but I am unaware of it and everything seems normal to me. So much so in fact that I am no longer aware of the loss of vision (hopefully not permanent) in one eye and am much more peturbed by the long sightedness in the other causing me to need glasses for all close things including eating!

Hopefully if/when the vision returns to the left eye it will take on again its previuos role as the eye for close work.

Another lucky thing is that having the right eye and driving a RHD car I am very safe at "priority a droites" and driving close to the curb when squeezing through gaps etc, the downside is that the blindspot on my left or the angle mort as the French call it is now big enough to conceal an articulated lorry, as I found to my horror when turning my hezd to do the equivalent of a motorcyclists life saver when joining the rocade the other day; it is frightening enough to find something in the blind spot (which after all is why we hopefully all double check it) but an articulated lorry!......!

 

[Nell]

Hi JR

I have just joined this forum and read your Eye Saga with interest. I lost the sight in my left eye 33 years ago (Car accident - I went through the windscreen - This was in the days before seat belts were law!!) I was left with the eye but was blinded. I went through about 10 years of different operations to regain the sight etc.. but eventually I had the eye removed about 1983 I think. All this sounds dreadfull, but I just want to tell you I have had no problems adjusting, and especially since I had the eye removed and an artificial eye fitted, I have never looked back (excuse the attempt at humour!!!) I drive a French car and have no problems. Believe me you will easily adjust. Going back to car driving - I spoke to the DVLA years ago about this and they said I did NOT need any note on my licence as one good sighted eye is enough to drive with. I do mention this to car insurance companies though as I think it is best they know the situation, so they have no "Cop Outs" later. I am NOT charged any extra on my premium for this.

You mentioned somewhere you were getting detatched retina trouble - I had this a couple of times in the beginning. When they tll you in hospital to take it easy they really mean it. I was told I my second detatchment was caused by hoovering!!! Bending and lifting are OUT until your eye has settled down again.

Believe me "Things can only get Better" and you will wonder what all the worry was about. And Yes your other eye will get stronger through time.

If you want to talk about this email me your telephone number and I can contact you

Kind Regards Nell in Dept 24

[Chancer]

Thanks for the message Nell

I am trying very hard to not strain anything which is very difficult after always being so active, but living on my own I simply cannot avoid some bending and light lifting.

Both my secondary detachments happened after walking for less than one hour in the local town, the first time around several phamacies trying to find an eyepatch, the second time visiting the library and post office (twice).

Ironically after being discharged the first time I did a 7km randonee to get some fresh air and increase my confidence but by this time the damage was already done visiting the pharmacies the day before. I am much more sensible now (no randonees etc) and go straight back to eye hospital as soon as I get the slightest indication of trouble but this is far harder to judge whilst blind after each operation, once some sight is regained it is easier to notice any degradation.

I will PM you my number