Judy's Journey
An Inspirational Story from a new friend of TYJ, Judy:
My1st journey started in 1996 when I noticed my eyesight was becoming blurry (like looking at life through cheesecloth). I contacted my opthamolgist and after a thorough examination, it was determined that my left optic nerve was swollen and hemorrhaging. In all of his years of practice, he had never seen this before. Within weeks, I was completely blind. After months of intense testing at our local hospital, UVA and John Hopkins, it was determined that I had Optic Neuritis, a not so well known disease that often leads to MS. As is sometimes the case, my vision slowly imporoved over the next 9 months. I was able to continue to work with the aid of magnifying glasses and many of my so called "seeing eye friends". I was unable to drive for 5 years (thanks to my many, many friends who drove "Miss Daisy" pretty much everywhere). Life went on and I adjusted. In 2008 I lost my job of 20 years (right when the stock market bottomed out). Then began my 2nd journey to reinvent myself and find a new job . . but during that journey, I found myself in the hospital for a routine CAT scan that uncovered I had 2 blocked arteries in my heart . . Journey #3 . . within 2 weeks, I had 2 stents and an ICD (implanted cardiac device). Those 2 weeks were scary as I had to be revived two separate times. By the way, I never did get that CAT scan :) Now back to journey #2 . . the job. After 15 months of unemployment and recovering from the surprise of my heart attack, I found a new job! Things calmed down and I was h oping my reoccuring journeys had finally come to an end. . Revisit journey #1. One of the medications I was on for my heart caused my Optic Neuritis to flare up .. my vision started fading again. As luck (or God) would have it, I visited a new opthamologist who had written a paper on my disease. One of my heart meds was causing my ON to flare. We changed the med, but my vision is what it is today. Even so, I am blessed to have some vision and to be able to continue to work. Life is full of journeys!
My1st journey started in 1996 when I noticed my eyesight was becoming blurry (like looking at life through cheesecloth). I contacted my opthamolgist and after a thorough examination, it was determined that my left optic nerve was swollen and hemorrhaging. In all of his years of practice, he had never seen this before. Within weeks, I was completely blind. After months of intense testing at our local hospital, UVA and John Hopkins, it was determined that I had Optic Neuritis, a not so well known disease that often leads to MS. As is sometimes the case, my vision slowly imporoved over the next 9 months. I was able to continue to work with the aid of magnifying glasses and many of my so called "seeing eye friends". I was unable to drive for 5 years (thanks to my many, many friends who drove "Miss Daisy" pretty much everywhere). Life went on and I adjusted. In 2008 I lost my job of 20 years (right when the stock market bottomed out). Then began my 2nd journey to reinvent myself and find a new job . . but during that journey, I found myself in the hospital for a routine CAT scan that uncovered I had 2 blocked arteries in my heart . . Journey #3 . . within 2 weeks, I had 2 stents and an ICD (implanted cardiac device). Those 2 weeks were scary as I had to be revived two separate times. By the way, I never did get that CAT scan :) Now back to journey #2 . . the job. After 15 months of unemployment and recovering from the surprise of my heart attack, I found a new job! Things calmed down and I was h oping my reoccuring journeys had finally come to an end. . Revisit journey #1. One of the medications I was on for my heart caused my Optic Neuritis to flare up .. my vision started fading again. As luck (or God) would have it, I visited a new opthamologist who had written a paper on my disease. One of my heart meds was causing my ON to flare. We changed the med, but my vision is what it is today. Even so, I am blessed to have some vision and to be able to continue to work. Life is full of journeys!
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