It’s official. My eye is leaking. Because of macular degeneration, fluid is leaking, which is causing the big blur in my right eye. Treatment starts in two days – injections that should keep me from going blind. Please rejoice with me. I can read no better than I did a week ago, but there is hope on the horizon. I’ve heard from several people that they are currently taking the injections that keep this condition from going wild.

An added bonus is that the retina specialist uses space in my eye doctor’s office once a week. Instead of driving 45 minutes to Asheville, we’ll go to the next town. Please rejoice with John on that.

Now for the fun. Besides reading, can you guess what routine thing is hardest for me? It’s loading my toothbrush! Depth perception is missing for close things right now. I may be walking around with bright, shiny fingers that smell minty.

My half-deaf friend called to check on me, and we had a few laughs. She said the two of us would make a good pair, one being able to see and one to hear. She is totally deaf in one ear, making conversation difficult. Perception is askew for both of us. She can’t tell where sounds are coming from, and I can’t judge distance easily.

We chatted about coping with the loss of senses. I have an app on my phone that is supposed to translate speech into words on the screen. I hear better than my phone does. She wants to learn to lip-read. You need sight for both of those things. My advice? Don’t lose more than one sense at a time.

I tried to read the title of an icon on my phone to her and had to say, “I can’t read it!”

She laughed and said mock-loudly, “I can’t hear you.”

Hopefully neither of us will get COVID and lose our sense of smell. I presume taste goes out the window with smell. We could feel food without tasting it. My advice? Hang onto your senses, since it’s hard to be without more than one.