So much to be grateful for

These last two months have been a wake up call. A whirlwind of scary activity, and a real reminder of what's important. They say that in tough times you find out who your real friends are, and boy have I had some surprises.

Just before my last post, my husband started to lose the sight in his right eye. this was a huge concern, because in November of last year, he started losing the sight in his left eye- and by January he had no functional vision in the left eye.

As you might imagine, we were all terrified. The original diagnosis was a temporary loss of blood flow to the optic nerve, causing it to be damaged. The suspected cause was sleep apnea, and we were told that as long as he got that under control and faithfully used his CPAP machine, the chance of this happening to the other eye was slim. But now this had started in the other eye. We were terrified.

My husband has been in the hospital twice in the last two months for strong doses of IV steroids., thinking he had some horrible, debilitating disease that would soon attack other parts of his body. Finally, we found a doctor who was willing to think outside the box, and try something even though there was no conclusive diagnosis, to try to save the remaining vision. At that time it was about 50% of the field of vision in one eye. If we could save that, we felt that we could manage. He would never be able to drive a car or ride a bike again, but we could manage.

All quilting activities have stopped, but I was privileged to be able to hand deliver the Quilt of Valor to  its final destination.  This is James Newman, a 93-year old  WWII Veteran who survived the Battle of the Bulge. I delivered this on the 70th anniversary of D-Day, and we had a conversation about that. He is a wonderfully spry and sharp man, and it made me realize how fortunate I am to know him!

Fast forward to today- My husband has been on this new treatment, for a suspected auto-immune disease for about 6 weeks now. We are so surprised and grateful that the vision in both eyes is improving. Two doctors -  both very well respected neuro-ophthalmologists told him that was pretty much impossible. Any improvement is a win, and who knows how much more might come back. It just goes to show you that you should never give up. Follow each lead to its conclusion, and keep asking questions.