Latest / Get It Got It Girl: Midlife Rebuild / S2 E5 A Head Cold, An Eye Exam, And A Little Hope

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S2 E5 A Head Cold, An Eye Exam, And A Little Hope · Get It Got It Girl: Midlife Rebuild

• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everyone, welcome back.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I realized something today.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: I almost didn't have a podcast episode for tomorrow.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, actually, I'm doing it late.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: So technically, I didn't have it on time.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that's actually the kind of funny thing because here I am trying to do a podcast about rebuilding my life.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I forget to prepare the podcast.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought, you know what?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's actually the episode.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because rebuilding your life doesn't always happen in this nice little organized, perfectly planned out way.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you're just figuring it out as you go.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: And today was definitely one of those days.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I woke up with a head cold.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't feeling good.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was tired.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I probably would have preferred to just stay home and do absolutely nothing.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: But I had an eye appointment that I needed to go to.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're rebuilding your life, sometimes you don't get to wait until you feel ready.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you have to take the next step anyway.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I went.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: And today was actually interesting because I learned some things that gave me a little bit of hope for my eyes.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been trying to figure out what my future is going to look like.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: I know we can't quite figure that out, but I just wanted more information, more input.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I did not get it yet, and I still have two more days to wait for the information.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I have to be patient because there's nothing I can do.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's out of my control.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: When it comes to my vision and my independence, that's one thing that I've been wondering about is whether driving might possibly still be something I could do again someday.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And Wednesday I will find that out.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I learned today that it may not be completely off the table where before I thought it was.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: So my hopes are back up again.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: But it all depends on this one exam that I'm going to get done.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I will get back to you probably next week or two and that lets you know.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: But there's always a but, right?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: I have to wait for some results.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: There are certain things they have to determine about my eyes and my vision.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: And depending on what those results show, it could change whether driving is an option for me.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I walked out of that appointment with some information, some hope, and definitely some more questions.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And a whole lot of waiting.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: But there was actually something really positive that came out of today's appointment that I don't want to overlook.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: I also found out that the glasses I'm wearing right now are actually way off from my correct prescription.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now, some of you have are new to this, so you may not know my story, but earlier this year I lost 60% of my vision from a retina detachment, and I was told that I would not be able to drive again.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now there is a slight possibility that I may be able to drive, but there's one condition that may stop that.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's still a waiting game, it's a guessing game.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And if you could imagine, I'm sitting at home trying to do this test on myself.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Mind you, I do not have equipment for the test.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm looking up ways to do a DIY or is it DYI, do your own test at home.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm trying to figure it out, and I just can't figure it out, which definitely was frustrating.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: So that means when I get my new glasses, that I'm gonna be able to see significantly better than I'm seeing right now.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: So in the beginning, when it first happened in December, I went within two days, I couldn't see much out of my left eye.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Then I had surgery in the beginning of the year, and I got vision back in my eye, but it was extremely blurry.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: I could only see three to five feet in front of me, if that.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then a couple months later, I had found my glasses, an old pair of glasses.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I put them on and I could see my mom and my son's face from three to five feet.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: I was excited because little by little I was getting some back.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And now when I went to the doctor, this is nine months later.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: I went to my regular doctor to see if my prescription was far off.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: And they said yes, it was far off, but they could not correct my vision to the absolute driving vision.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: But there are some different options now in the world where you can still drive with special equipment or special glasses that they put on your glasses called bioptic lenses, I believe.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: But the states vary.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: The DMV, like it varies from state to state.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't know, like, hey, I might be able to drive here, but then I might have to drive, you know, not drive in a certain state, then I might have to move, which, you know, I'm all for moving if I can still drive.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: So it you can see where this is a waiting game.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I've been dealing with.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: A head cold, going to the doctor, and then, you know, that just made me stop for a minute.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because when I look at the whole journey of my vision, I've actually gotten little pieces of it back along the way.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then I found, you know, that old pair of glasses, it gave me hope.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: So little by little, when I thought no hope was gone, there was little things coming up that were, you know, improving.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: So it just shows shows me that I can't always control everything.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And if I think, oh no, I have no hope, it's over for me.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't know that that's true because I thought I was just gonna be laying in bed all the time and doing nothing.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now there might be a chance I can see better.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know how much better I'll be able to see it, and that's the biggest thing.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that's been one of the things for me.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you can try to control stuff, you can try to do your best.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: I can't do my best at seeing.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's not something I can be like, oh, if I just try harder.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And believe me, I have done that where I just tried harder.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, how can I try harder?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: That was so strange when I caught myself doing that.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: So the point of my whole story is just to tell you that you just don't know what's coming up.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: You might think that things are over in certain aspects of your life, but you don't know.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was pretty good.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: I can breathe for a moment.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I was going to do.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna take a breath, do what I can, take action when I can.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was sick, I had a head cold.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: I I did rest more after that, but I did get done what I needed to do.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: And isn't that life sometimes?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: You finally get yourself to take the step, you make the appointment, you show up, you ask questions, you do everything you're supposed to do.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then somebody says, Okay, now we have to wait.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: The answer is we have to wait.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you guys, I am not very good at waiting.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: So needless to say, I've been up.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to go to bed, and I'm doom scrolling all night till 4 or 6 a.m.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then I came up with a new thing where I would put my phone away at midnight, take it off wall, actually 11 o'clock, and try to prepare myself to go to sleep at midnight.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I've actually done that for two nights, and that's been very helpful.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: It was hard at first.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: It was like an addiction.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've ever tried to quit something, but I'm laying in bed.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go to sleep.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's time for bed.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Everything I can do is done for tonight.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And my mind's like, oh, what about this?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Look up this.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I go to get off the bed.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, you said you weren't gonna look up anything.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna go to bed.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: The only way I can use my phone at bedtime for me is to listen to something that's gonna put me to sleep.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now I can't listen to a podcast.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: I can't listen to an audiobook because if I do those two things, I'm going to want to stay awake.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be listening, studying, figuring out little tips that I can learn and still researching when I'm trying to sleep.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I decided it would have to be like a sleep meditation or positive affirmations or anxiety meditation.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so far I've stuck to that.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now I woke up and I look better.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like my face looks better.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: I don't look so dragged out.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually feel better.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: So the whole point is just telling you, you don't know what could happen during the week.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: There are some things that you still can do if you're not feeling good.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Just don't push yourself.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you're extremely sick, yes, of course.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna lay down, you're gonna take care of yourself.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is something this week that you would like to do, or maybe there's something that you're waiting for, and you just have to let it go for now.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: You can't figure out what's gonna happen, we don't know the outcome, we don't have enough facts, maybe the facts aren't in yet.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: What is something that you can let go of and lose, you know, not lose your control, but just try not to hang on so tight, lose your grip.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now if you listen to this this far, thank you.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if you continue to listen to me, I would like you to follow me if this helped you in any sort of way or share it with a friend.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, thank you.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Go get it, girl.