If i lose my sight

[Accy cyclist]

On Thursday i had my second and last chance operation to re-attach my retinal nerve in my right eye. The first operation wasn't a success and they've given me a 70% chance of it working this time, if it doesn't they can't operate again as "the retinal nerve has too much scarring to try again". I'm preparing myself for the worse case scenario which would be total blindness in my right eye, naturally i'm a bit down as i'm worried how it'll affect my day to day life, and my ability to ride a bike.
I've been getting about for the last month with one eye covered up to prepare myself for the worse, i've also been cycling, obviously taking it easy and having to stop more to assess the road situation more behind me than ahead of me. I've noticed that my average speed has dropped by a couple of miles an hour but that doesn't bother me as long as i can continue to ride a bike i'll be happy!
Do any of you know of anyone in a similar situation, and how do they cope, and are there any organisations that could help me in any way?
Ironically before all this happened i mentioned to my wife about volunteering with some organisation that offers blind/partially sighted riders the chance to cycle on tandems with sighted riders. Now it looks like i might end up on the back of a tandem rather than the front.

 

[Drago]

My Missus is completly blind in one eye and ever so slowly losing the sight in her second eye due to MS. She was never an uber keen cyclist like me, but she still rides on and off road if I accompany her.

You'll hopefully still be able to drive after a period of readjustment. It's not even declarable to the DVLA provided the sight in the working eye is good. Fog and heavy snowfall on the ground seem to cause problems though as without stereoscopic vision and deprived of visual reference you may get disoriented quickly.

It's as much an adjustment for your family and workmates as anyone else. Kids'll get unexpectedly under your feet and colleagues will stand there expecting you to acknowledge them forgetting you can't see them.

On the plus side our employer had been unexpectedly superb. So long as she can get to work sonehow they said there'll be a job for her, and they're even helping her learn Braille, give her 45 minutes each working day for the gym (exercise is very beneficial with MS), allow her to use the disabled parking bays in recognition that parking is very hard work for her now etc.

Good luck.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Thanks to both of you, i feel better already. I've been doing a few tests of my own, one is comparing how much i have to turn my head to look right, with my right eye still working. It is still working by the way, although it's very blurred but i can get a good idea. I only have to turn my head a couple of inches more to look to my right side with my left eye as opposed to using my right eye. So it's not as bad as i imagined it'd be. I was wondering if a mirror fitted on my helmet for example, like a wing mirror on a car, would be possible, or have one on my handlebars though i've tried to fit one before on drops but it wouldn't fit on.

 

[Accy cyclist]

That looks decent, thanks.

 

[Accy cyclist]

My Missus is completly blind in one eye and ever so slowly losing the sight in her second eye due to MS. She was never an uber keen cyclist like me, but she still rides on and off road if I accompany her.

You'll hopefully still be able to drive after a period of readjustment. It's not even declarable to the DVLA provided the sight in the working eye is good. Fog and heavy snowfall on the ground seem to cause problems though as without stereoscopic vision and deprived of visual reference you may get disoriented quickly.

It's as much an adjustment for your family and workmates as anyone else. Kids'll get unexpectedly under your feet and colleagues will stand there expecting you to acknowledge them forgetting you can't see them.

On the plus side our employer had been unexpectedly superb. So long as she can get to work sonehow they said there'll be a job for her, and they're even helping her learn Braille, give her 45 minutes each working day for the gym (exercise is very beneficial with MS), allow her to use the disabled parking bays in recognition that parking is very hard work for her now etc.

Good luck.

My mate's wife has MS Drago so i slightly know how tough it is looking after someone with the condition. It sounds like you have a rarity in a very decent employer. Best wishes to your wife as well!

 

[fossyant]

Fingers crossed for your second op. Follow their instructions to the letter. Best wishes and try not to think about it too much

 

[byegad]

Good luck. I knew a guy who lost an eye and returned to driving after a retest. Initially he had a couple of silly shunts where he failed to judge the distance to a wall, and then a car. Once he'd learned to judge distance one eyed, and take a bit more care than he used to all was well.

Let us know how you get on I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

I met some really cool bloke who had limited sight (did not pry with regards to how limited) who loved cycling, he was now on a bent trike as it attracted the attention of other road users more than a bike and made him feel safer.
Hope the OP goes well for you, fella

 

[Cavalol]

My brother has been partially sighted from birth. Sadly this effectively means he's blind as he can't really see much at all, save bright lights or very vivid colours very close up.
I know it's very hard to stay positive when faced with potential bad news like your's, but try and focus on the fact you will still have one good eye and of making the most of what you have now and the wonderful things you have seen so far in your life. One eye won't stop you enjoying life, and without wishing to sound either patronising or 'non-caring' at least you will have one working eye if (God forbid) the worse happens.
There are various things to get involved in, my dad did the London marathon with my brother's completely blind friend, there's tandem riding (something I was also thinking about recently) and stuff like the talking newspaper if you have one round your way yet.

Anyhow all of the above makes it sound like you've had the bad news already and cannot see a thing, obviously that hasn't happened and isn't likely too. It's far, far too easy to say 'chin up' and all that stuff but try and think of the positives at the moment and remember there's still a fighting chance you'll be fine. Best wishes and good luck, it can only spoil life if you let it!

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I have very limited sight in my left eye due to pseudomonas infection in 1994. Long story short....

I have worn contacts for 30 years or so now (these days I just wear the one in my right eye). I was on holiday in the Dominican Republic and 2 days before I came home I had a sore eye - thought nothing of it.

2 days later I was about 1 hour into the flight home when I had a pain like a red hot poker in the affected eye followed by the whole side of my face throbbing like a toothache on steroids.

8 hours later I was in Tunbridge Wells Opthalmic Unit in agony. I'd been there just 15 minutes when they went into overdrive. They immediately diagnosed Pseudomonas infection They put me on a drip, put a couple of injections in my arm and one in my eye orbit + some tabs and I was admitted for what turned out to be 5 days.

My stomach turned to ice when they said they were putting an operating theatre on standby if my eye needed removing. I was scared stiff and burst into tears (more pain). They would give the anti-biotics a few hours to halt the infections progress or my eye was coming out.

This very fast moving infection works like this: eye 1 where the infection starts gets destroyed in as little as a few hours, bug travels down the optic nerve and up the corresponding nerve to eye 2 which also gets destroyed. If the infection in eye 1 does not quickly come under control they save eye 2 at the expense of eye1.

Fortunately my eye responded and after 12 weeks of very painful treatment plus a drug regime that literally had me awake every half hour for each of those 12 weeks I was fine. I have never been so tired in all my life as this.

So sight in my left eye was badly impaired (still looks normal though) and it affected my stereoscopic vision. This mean't I had to 'learn' to drive again and down-climbing mountain routes became more interesting!

18 years later I have forgotten about my left eye, I would not know anything was wrong with it in terms of functionality and it does not affect my life in any way whatsoever. Bodies tend to adapt very well to these sort of problems.

Good luck with your condition and even with 1 eye down you'll still be able to ride your bike.

 

[Banjo]

Hope the op is successfull for you but if not you will still be able to ride .

My Grandfather lost an eye in an explosion when a young man,he cycled and motorcycled for the rest of his life without any accidents.

 

[numbnuts]

My best wishes too

 

[summerdays]

I had a mate at uni who lost an eye through cancer. He carried on driving etc (don't think I ever saw him near a bike but he wasn't that type of guy).

I have cycled a couple of times with someone with only very limited vision in their right eye (tunnel vision). They weren't that good at realising they couldn't see on that side and they didn't tend to look properly at junctions. As long as you are aware of your restricted vision to that side and turn your head, perhaps combined with a mirror I image you should be fine. Here's hoping the second operation has been a success.

 

[defy-one]

My brother-in-law is virtually blind in one eye. It took him a while to adjust to using just one eye,but he is doing everything he was before. Drives and plays football etc

 

[Brandane]

An old friend and work colleague of mine sadly lost one eye due to a cancerous tumour about 15 years ago. He was always a very fit guy and was determined this setback was not going to stop him. He was and still is an extremely keen MTB'er, and has even gone as far as to write a book which was published. MountainBike Scotland, by Kenny Wilson. He drives without any apparent problems too.

Hopefully your worst case scenario will not be the outcome, and that your treatment will result in full vision with both eyes. Good luck.