Would you believe it ?

Zoomers...ya they actually stick two...after numbing drops he injects me with another numbing shot and then the anti-inflammatory shot. definitely not the way I want to spend my mornings every 6 weeks but you gotta do what you gotta do. my vision is 20/20 so its all good.

 

Glad to see the humor is still there! I was nervous for a while! Stay the path your on and keep the faith!!! You'll be riden' soon!

 

Yo DED, hows everything goin lately????? Have you ridden your bike???

 

Hi

Sorry for not replying sooner, been out in Egypt for a couple of weeks. Had a great time, lots of poverty out there and not many tourists to help their economy. Got fed up with shopkeepers, taxi drivers and street vendors hassling you to spend money with them, but, no doubt if I was in their position with no money and a family to feed I would be just the same. Once you learn to not make eye contact and just keep walking things improved.

Doing OK at the moment, haven't been out on the bike yet, probably going to have a crack at driving today, weather is good so that will help a bit.

If the driving goes OK, then I will try out the bike next week. Wife isn't too happy about it but she's not dead set against it either. She thinks I need more time to adjust but I want to get on with things. I just don't want to set myself any stupid targets because if I don't achieve them it might set me back to a place I don't want to be.

I will keep y'all posted, but thanks for the continued interest and concern.

Carpy

 

Ded, have faith in yourself, my sister is blind in one eye and she drives and rides just fine. I dont let her fly a plane but im sure she could with a little practice and help.

Im loosing vision in my left eye, been happening for years, so I dont have depth perception. I still ride, drive and I fly. I know its a hard change to loose one side all at once. But know that there are many of us that have proven that one good eye is just as good as two.

I would definitely go with the patch. Looks great.

 

Oh Well,

That's the first driving attempt over. Pretty successful, no dramas. Did about 20 miles, over a couple of mountain roads, few towns and villages. That's enough for today, probably go out again tomorrow. Planning on a trip to the city on Thursday then if that lot is ok might get the bike out on Friday (hopefully the wife will be in work so I can tell her after the event !!)

Carpy AKA D.E.D.

 

Had my first ride out,

I decided to go by myself, that way I wouldn't have to hold anybody up or feel obliged to ride faster, further or anything other than what I wanted to do.

I took off the LCD screen for my rear view camera and relied upon the Riderscan mirror I fitted plus the standard mirrors. It felt a little alien at first but within a few miles it all felt comfortable again. I took it easy, it is no time for heroics. About 7 miles into the ride, on a stretch through a twisty village, a guy pulled out in front of me, could have done without it but hey ho there you go. What I really didn't need was the dozy bitch behind him deciding to come out as well !!! God I love my ABS. I did a total of around 90 miles. I am getting used to having to turn my head slightly to the right in order to sort of share my field of view equally both sides of the bike. I am finding it a little awkward when I come from sunlight into a shady corner but I can cope with that.
My depth perception is still a bit out. I nearly got impaled on a ladder that was overhanging a pick up truck by about 7 feet because it didn't have anything hanging off the end of it and as I slowed down behind it I got a bit too close for comfort because I couldn't judge where the end of it was.
But the important thing is DEAD EYE DICK RIDES AGAIN !!!
Just got to take it easy and remember there are old pilots, there are bold pilots, but no old bold pilots.

Thanks for the support guys

D.E.D. AKA Carpy

 

Good fer you...it will get easier with time.....trust me. Just rely on your spidey sences....they help as well. Practice makes perfect...or pretty damn close

Sent from my SGH-T679 using Tapatalk 2

 

Keep it up, 100% of us are pulling for you!

 

^^^ What he said

 

Great to see your positive attitude after your set back. Seeing you take steps to keep riding is awesome Carpy. Take it easy and stay safe out there!

 

Hey Carpy. Good luck to you on your continued recovery and adjustments. The same thing happened to my dad but he was much older. They said he had a blood clot behind his eye.

 

DED, hows everything goin? been putting some miles down?

 

Hi duccmann

Yeah, weathers been up and down but I've done around 200miles this week. Couple of hairy moments but nothing too bad. It probably sounds stupid but there's a surprising change in the amount you can se when cornering. As you know we drive/ride on the left, but with my right eye gone I have the impression I cannot see enough when taking a left hand bend with regard to the corner tightening or opening out. It seems different with a right hand bend, here it seems I cannot view the white lines accurately enough to totally judge where my head is with regard to oncoming traffic. Still it's all a learning "curve". It's just about practice practice practice. I will get there.

Bit of bad news today, a friend and work colleague who I was in school with, who had come to the hospital to visit me and was texting me every other day to see how I was (whilst undergoing chemotherapy for his cancer) died early hours of this morning. It really knocked me for 6. He had been a total inspiration with the dignity with which he bore his illness. Always thinking of others and definitely shunning any kind of sympathy. He was constantly telling me "It wont be long and you'll be back on that bike". Whatever happens I have to keep riding now just for his memory if for nothing else.

DED

 

So sorry to hear about your buddy.....so now that Im almost 58 We have to prepare for not only our parents but our friends passing. Myself had my best friend(brother)pass last year and always talk with him when Im riding.....if only I had his skills.
Talking about your situation, I do find that I always have to turn my head just alittle more and look way ahead in turns even more then usual..but like you said practice makes perfect

Sent from my SGH-T679 using Tapatalk 2

 

I have only one eye myself brother , lost it in 91 ( long story ).

It does not affect my MC riding or skill level one bit, > but on a mountain bike it really does affect my ability to rail on narrow single track but there too I have not given up at all as I ride with advanced and expert down hill mountain bike'ers 3x's a week it's just that I am a lot slower than them lol .

My I suggest get tons of fresh air aeorbic exsorsize, eat clean and don't stress so Your immune system will stay ultra strong and keep You out of trouble brother......PEACE

 

With all due respect, your loss was 23 years ago. It must have affected your MC riding, you have just found different ways of doing things and after such a long time the new ways just become second nature once again.

It would be great to have zero stress but it is unlikely to ever happen, I have only been in this predicament for 10 weeks and with the medical profession still baffled as to why it happened they cannot advise me on any way to ensure I don't wake up one morning soon with no sight in my other eye. That along with the poor employment situation around where I live which means that a lot of us work long hours, in temporary positions, not knowing if we have a job tomorrow ( at 53 years old) doesn't lead to a stress free lifestyle.

Things will get better but only after employing subtle changes in everything I do and the ways in which I do them.

D.E.D. AKA Carpy

 

From your writing we can all see how strong you are! Do Not let anything get to you. You may not be able to see the strength yourself because it is in little increments every day. Believe me, the rest of us can see it and it is BIGTIME! When you are feeling down come here to the "World". I speak for myself and probably others, no one wants to see you fail.

Besides who else will put up with our Crap!

 

Cheers Maggot

I try to be as positive as I can, it is just sometimes, when someone comes up with what to me appears to be an inane statement, I get a little exasperated as need to have a little rant back. There is so much positivity towards me from the vast majority of you guys that it has to rub off and help me along my new journey. It is good to know that you guys are out there.
Oh and keep the crap coming........as Ronald McDonald says "I'm Lovin It" !!!

Carpy

 

Hey My Fellow Viffers

Just a bit of an update

I have probably done about 1000 one eyed miles by now. I am still off work, that is due to my company needing to do a risk assessment and implement the findings to make it safe for me to return (I am only a temporary employee so they could easily tell me not to return).
The riding is getting better but I still have a few hairy moments mainly, well entirely down to me. When I leave the house, within 0.5 mile I have a 4 mile twisty road up over Maerdy Mountain and I end to get a bit excitable on that part of the run then I settle down.
Anyway, I still having regular eye appointments for retinal scans and the like at the hospital and had to have a Rheumatology assessment as well. They are still trying to cover all bases. This assessment found nothing untoward.

I also had a Neurological assessment. They concluded that the damage to the optical nerve was probably caused by a small stroke behind my right eye which interrupted the blood flow to the nerve which killed it. The inflammation and infection around the sight was probably coincidental but certainly did not help the situation.

My last eye appointment and consequential scans have shown that the nerve has now "shrivelled" up so is beyond all hope of recovery. Oh well. Hey Ho There Ya Go !! I am alive and kicking. I have decided that I now have to go, see and do things on my bucket list a lot earlier than I had intended. Not from any morbid sense, but because a number of things are visual and with my problem manifesting itself as quickly as it did I don't wish to miss out. I need to see things when I can see things.

I recently did a spectacular "Zip Wire" run in North Wales where you go off the top of a mountain, through a slate quarry and over a lake, reaching speeds of 100mph, AWESOME !!! Here is a link to the website http://www.zipworld.co.uk/
Enough about me

Thanks for all the support and stay safe out there

D.E.D. AKA Carpy