Saturday, June 25, 2011

My Unique Veiw of The World or Welcome to My World

We all view the world through our own pair of eye-glasses. Some are rose colored, giving everything a bright, positive look. Some are grey or green, they give a variety of views. A few are so dark nothing bright or colorful can make it past the lenses. I almost forgot, RayBan's that deflect the world away from the wearer. Then  there's my pair of eye-glasses, thick and usually covered in salt from my eyes. This helps give me a blurred image of the world around me. Of course, anything more than three feet from my nose is a blur.

Not many people know but I have a rare eye condition called a Coloboma. When I was a newborn, a neighbor gazed into my eyes and made a startling discovery, my pupils were not round, they are keyhole shaped.  Upon closer examination, because this condition often comes with more than one abnormality, it was discovered the optic nerve in each eye did not fully develop.  Pictures of my optic nerve show a large gap behind each of my baby blues.

Between my larger than normal pupils and missing optic nerves, I get a slightly different view of the world around me.  Some of the views have brought laughter while some just plain embarrassment or frustration.  During my first eye test to check my vision or lack there of, I was asked to name the animal on a chart at the end of the room.  I looked in the right direction and asked a question of my own, "What animals."  With that, the nurse said, "Forget it." and the test was over.

In my high school years I took driver's ed, yes, I see well enough to drive.  The instructors knew of my condition and while driving one day with Mr. Jones, he casually asked me what the sign up ahead said.  I looked, and was about to respond, "What sign, because there wasn't a sign in sight.  As I opened my mouth, the sign popped up from behind a tree.  I quickly told Mr. Jones what the sign said, it was a picture which I can see much easier than words.

In college I would wave at passing cars with friendly hands waving at me.  My friends asked, "Who was that?"
 "Gee I don't know, I just figure if they're waving at me I'm going to wave back."

I often squint trying to get a better focus, my glasses help but my corrected vision will never be 20/20.  Words that look alike often get mixed up in my head. Just before sitting down to write this I took out a can of hairspray.  I read, "Frizzy" I thought, why would I want to use hairspray that makes my already wild mop more so.  I brought the can closer, it said, Aussie Freeze.

I enjoy watching the Discover Channel and one day a program came on that I think explains why I see better than anyone ever expected I would. It showed two patients with irreversible brain damage.  One had lost the ability to speak when that part of the brain was damaged by a stroke.  Eventually she was able to learn how to speak again.  This puzzled her doctors who knew her brain function for speech had been destroyed.  The did an MRI of her brain and found an amazing sight.  While the speech part of her brain was still gone, another part of her brain not connected to speech had taken over that task.  I firmly believe that part of my brain not normally connected to sight has found a way to connect and take over as much of the functions the optic nerves as it can.

Until next time, keep those rose colored specs near by, you never know when you'll need to put a rosy glow on things.

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