Seeing the people you love – is a beautiful thing.
In the beginning of my career as a professional photographer I was sometimes frustrated with my camera – that it didn’t catch the focus where I wanted. Or that I didn’t always know what were my ISO and aperture. My husband, who is very technical, was explaining to me: “you have those green numbers in your viewfinder – they tell you ISO and aperture. And the red blinking dots show you where the focus is.” But no matter how hard I tried, I never noticed any red blinking dots, nor did I see any green numbers. We were laughing that on my sessions I concentrate so much on people, that I don’t notice anything else. That’s a good thing, I thought.
The realization came at a checkup with optometrist. The doctor did some tests and instead of giving me the prescription for new contacts, he urged me to go and see an ophthalmologist immediately. The pressure in my eyes was so high that he suspected I am loosing my vision. Suddenly seemingly disconnected pieces fell into place: my lately headaches at night and all those problems seeing information displayed in my camera… The ophthalmologist just confirmed the diagnosis: I had glaucoma!
I was scared and confused. I was just 32 and always though that glaucoma is an “old people” disease. I was even more shocked to learn that glaucoma is not curable and the lost vision can not be restored! If you are lucky enough and if you get caught early – you might delay the process. I found that I already lost some of my vision, and my doctor told me she’ll be happy if I can still see anything after 5 years. I was devastated. This meant to me the end of my career as a photographer – and I had such high hopes…
Today, it’s my fifth year since I know that I have glaucoma. I am after 2 laser surgeries and on my last possible medication that is available on the market. But I can still see! Thank God my vision is pretty stable now I can still photograph people! I am no longer scared. While shocked and devastated in the begging, now I am grateful for every single day I can see and for every moment with my boys or other people around, for every sunrise and sunset I am able to experience… and I want the same for YOU!
January is Glaucoma Awareness Month – go, get your eyes checked! Make a plan to visit ophthalmologist and ask him about that disease! It’s so important! Click the icon below to find out more:
such a strong witness here. thanks for sharing, Patricia