A Year Ago Today

Today marks the one year anniversary since I first went to see my low vision optometrist with dreams of driving.  I thought this may be a good time to introduce you her: Dr. Dawn DeCarlo, featured in the photo above.  After all, she's really responsible for all of this.  She's the only one in my state who ventures to deal head on with bioptic technology.  She serves as a liaison with the state DMV and is a accomplished researcher.  She's excellent at her profession and still manages to be very personable.  She's an invaluable asset to me and many others who are blessed to be able to be her patient.  I hope she doesn't go anywhere anytime soon!  I guess that's selfish, but who can blame me?  She's great!


Driving is something we all undoubtedly take for granted.  I came into this Bioptic adventure trying to hold in any expectations.  Because of that, I'm not really disappointed I haven't driven yet.  After all, a year ago today, I had no bioptics, no permit, no red filters, no bioptic blog and no clue what would come of it all.  With that said, it's great to say my journey is far from over.  I've not been told NO by anyone...including the DMV...,but I am growing impatient for more progress.


Over the past 9 months my career advancements have taken over much of my personal life.  I'm happy to report things are much more settled these days on that front.  I've contacted Jennifer a few times with little success in getting any road trip training scheduled.  This week I'm amping it up. I finally feel I have adequate time and energy needed to devote to learning how to drive.


I also put some finishing touches on my bioptics.  Since I'm so light sensitive, Jennifer suggested I could cut a sun filter to fit onto the hole of my boptics during the day.  If you look at the photo of my bioptics  (on prior post) you'll see the bioptic sits in the red filters.  Well that tiny square hole in the top was the only thing not filtered.  While I didn't want it red filtered, as I wouldn't be able to see the green lights at all, I needed something to protect me from the sun when looking through the bioptic peep hole during daylight hours.  I brain stormed.  I would need something that i could actually easily remove for night driving and reattach for day driving.  The fix: velcro.  Yes friends, cousin to duct tape, velcro can solve many of life's problems.  I'll post a photo soon, as I don't think explaining this really helped you understand.  So with my driving tools all ready to go, I just need my trusty trainer to saddle up her horses so we can hit the trainee trail.  Yippee Ti Yi Yo....thats cowboy for Happy Trails Ahead!  As always, I'll keep you posted.

2nd Passenger Evaluation: 04/24/09 I'm Crushed

My neighbor and friends have been working a lot with me this past week to prepare me for today. I still don't think I'm an ideal bioptic user, but I should pass. Today Jennifer was kind enough to arrange to pick me up form work with another one of her pupils. This Friday was a bright sunshine filled day. I hurried to get downstairs from work to meet Jennifer at the curb of my workplace. She called my cell and said one of the girls she was training had put her a little behind and someone was lost in her building. I told her no problem, I had no choice but to wait. :) After about 10 minutes she arrived. I had no idea what vehicle she was in. I forgot to ask. When she finally arrived she rolled down the window and said my name as I cautiously approached the van.

She was joking and called the van her new soccer mom mini van. Apparently, her employer had just given it to her to use for testing. Jenn introduced me to the teenage driver she was working with. Jennifer mostly talked and had a few cell phone distractions. It was obviously not a ideal day for her to do this test. She did ask me to spot a few things here and there. At one point we braked and she asked me if the car in front of us had blinking lights on or not. I had no clue, it was very bright and the bright light makes red light very hard to see. I can only see red perfectly at dusk or night. We tried a few other vehicles. No luck. With that, she was starting to get a negative tone with me about my driving prospects. I had mentioned moving to Oregon, and she said her sister lived there and I'd be a much better off there. That really did not make me happy, but she meant to be encouraging. I realized that, but this is NOT what I wanted to hear today! I was at my house before I could blink an eye. She apologized for not having enough time to test me more in depth today. I had to prompt her for information at the end of our trip. She told me what to work on and then gave me a little hope.

Jennifer explained that Dr. De Carlo has some options for users with problems seeing red lights. She mentioned some contacts and filters. She then told me that I should not contact her until I've seen Dr. De Carlo again for assistance correcting these problems. With that she was off, and I was left home alone on a early Friday afternoon to do nothing but ponder this unfortunate turn of events. I was CRUSHED!!! And the news gets worse from there. Monday I called the doctors office to setup this appointment Jennifer required. I was told by the secretary that it would be almost 2 months before I could see Dr. De Carlo again due to her extensive research and limited patient schedule! I took the next appointment: June 18th. This really sucks. I think it could be the end. Me going back to the doctor at Jennifer's request, sounds like a last straw effort. I'm in shock and frustrated beyond belief. I'm seeing red now...because I'm so mad, too bad I still can't see the red stop lights that well. I knew this may happen, I just don't want it to be over.