First Problem

My first problem may lead to readability problems and unusual text placement.

For all practical purposes I am blind. I have cataracts - my right eye can see light and color and ‘big’ objects like cars and furniture. But any bright light hurts – I see glare all the time.

I cannot read or see any details. I cannot use it to go up/down stairs and I can’t see raised concrete while walking along a sidewalk.

It will let me know something big is coming at me but usually too late. For the most part it hurts from the glare.

My left eye also has cataracts but not as bad – I could (notice I didn’t say can) read printed material and the computer screen using great magnification.

I could see just enough detail to see facial expressions although I questioned many of them.

About two months ago I had another breakout of shingles. One thing I want to quote before I go on:

Yes, it's contagious. Just like the chicken pox you had as a kid, shingles are contagious. As a result, until the blisters crust over, you need to be extremely careful around infants, pregnant women, people with weakened immune systems and those who have never had chicken pox. If you are going to be in contact with anyone in these groups, cover your blisters with a bandage and avoid direct contact in order to prevent spreading the virus.
Here Is The Source Page

Two years ago I woke up blind in my left eye - almost black. My right eye was just beginning to have major problems. I also had a headache that was so bad I could not concentrate on anything.

The doctor looked into my eye and asked if I had any cuts or open sores. I showed him the two places on my back that had been diagnosed as shingles in 1998. They break out about three or four times a year.

He immediately called the nurse and the attendant at the front desk. They all washed their hands for several minutes in a weird brown solution.

He made a phone call and asked if the vaccine would help if shingles had already appeared and shook his head.

He asked for treatments and wrote a few things down.

He had me get off the examination table and sit down. He told me shingles probably infected my eye.

There was no treatment since they had already appeared but most treatments were ineffective anyway. They might shorten the cure time but not by much.

He could give me prescriptions and some painkillers but otherwise the outbreak would just have to run their course – about six weeks.

He also warned me they were very contagious and to stay away from babies and people who were sick or on chemo.

He told me that I could infect other parts of my body if I touched the blisters when they broke open– I did not know.

I went to get the prescriptions filled. I do not have insurance and the topical cream alone was almost $200. The other pills he recommended were even more expensive for six weeks.

The painkillers were $50 for a month but he could only give me so many at a time to prevent overdoses and abuse.

I brought the painkillers and since the other medicine would probably not do much I skipped it.

Nine weeks later I got most of my sight back but it was hazy.

And now it is infected again. Without my left eye I have very little vision. A neighbor has setup my computer with two screens – I already had everything I needed – and found a program that reads just about everything to me.

One screen is the built-in magnifier at its highest magnification. When I hover over a link or icon, I can see different colors and have learned to recognize many icons since the computer speaks its name.

I managed other blogs at Google so I am very familiar with the process of posting but I do most of it by simply emailing the posts to the blog.

Simple. Sometimes I cannot understand what the computer is saying so I am not sure I have typed correctly.

Earlier in this post I was a key off and the computer was speaking gibberish – if you see something that makes no sense you’ll know what happened.

So that is the first problem. I’m sure glad I like challenges.