I haven't been here in a long time, and the simple reason is that I have lost too much eyesight to do artwork or enjoy artwork as I once did.

Very nearsighted people are prone to stretching and detachment of the retina.  In my case this is made worse by the vitreous jelly in my eyes pulling away from the retina.  After many months the process shows no sign of completing and I have a sort of "wrinkle" through the middle of my vision, especially on the left.  My retinas are loaded with a protein deposit called "drusen," too.  This protein crowds the rods and cones you need to see.  The upshot is that I've lost a lot of acuity.  In some parts of my visual field I have abnormal color perception.  If you know what it feels like to try to see when you're dazzled by flash photography, that's a fairly accurate way to describe how it feels.  I have almost no night vision now, and in bright sunlight, the wrinkles and floaters in my eye can drive me mad.

I should appreciate the vision I do have.  I'm still able to read though it gets frustrating and I get tired quickly. Text seems to sparkle and move--not helpful.  I can still see the moon, and the brightest stars and planets.  Once the jelly has pulled away from the retinas, my elevated risk of a detachment will hopefully be gone, and maybe my vision will stabilize.  With autoimmune conditions one never knows, of course, but I am hopefully not looking at total blindness.  But I'm not in a very good town for vision loss.  This is a town for people who have automobiles and like to drive.  I am way overdue for another eye exam by a retina specialist, and I need new glasses, too.  It seems that it is harder all the time to make my health insurance get things done.

I'm also losing my hearing, and there's nothing they can do about that either.  With luck I won't lose it all or lose it any time soon.  Again,though, it isn't all bad.  Conversation is harder, sure.  I mishear things A LOT and you'd think people who know darn well I don't hear well could make allowances, but generally it irritates and frustrates people trying to talk to me.  I can still enjoy music.  When that is gone, to be honest, I think I may have a lot of trouble finding reasons to get up out of bed....

I'm walking some, less dependent on my power chair, but I still get reined in sharply by pain if I'm up too long at a time.  Hoping I'll get an adult tricycle to help me get healthier in this new year.  Wish me luck with that.  Sometimes I think I'll just lie down and give up if I can't fight my way out of this corner in a corner in a corner.  

My son will be 21 next month, and my daughters are doing well too.  The elder 18 has joined the Navy and the other is taking college-level biomedical courses at just 15. She's thinking about a career in medical ethics.  

Electronic mail at sheri lynn meyers at y mail dot com, just remove all of the spaces. I am not good with email...sometimes I just can't even make myself open and read it.  Like the 11,000 some messages I have here, I have to plead that it's just hard, sometimes, to do things I need to do, especially if the things are visually taxing like reading.

Hugs and  happy new year to all.