Setbacks With Macular Degeneration: One Step Forward, One Step Back

The usual saying is two steps forward and one step back. However, this past week it was one forward and two back.

Progress

My step forward was getting out of the boot I had to wear after my Achilles’ tendon repair. Thank goodness! Clomping around in that thing was not fun. Out of the boot on Sunday and made it walking to the top of the hill by Friday. Score!

And problems

Then the problems started— two of them. My BARD account went out. I was finishing a book in the Millennium novel series. You know, all of “The Girl Who” books by Stieg Larsson. Although they are now being done by, I guess, a sort of a “ghostwriter,” David Lagercrantz. If Larsson were still writing them, he would be the ghostwriter. He died after the third installment 😞. Anyway, here I am with Lisbeth and Mikael up to their eyeballs in danger, and I cannot get back to them. Horror!

Books for the blind

What? BARD. It stands for Braille and Audio Reading Downloads.

It is the tech generation’s answer to books for the blind. BARD may be the best thing about being legally blind. As I said in a previous page, if you are diagnosed as legally blind, the United States Public Library Service will allow you to download any of literally hundreds of thousands of titles for free. Just register.

They have all sorts of books. I am a mystery and suspense junkie. I just downloaded Shadows in Death by JD Robb as well as Michael Connelly’s Fair Warning. If you are also a mystery and suspense junkie, you will realize those were both published in 2020. BARD offerings are pretty current. I decide what I want to download by looking at the titles and authors of paperback books in Walmart or some other store. If there are any interesting ones, I get them for free from BARD.

Fortunately, my BARD account came back to life after about 12 hours. It appears to have been on their end. I won’t tell you what happened to Lisbeth and Mikael. You will need to find that out for yourself.

CCTV issues

Next, my CCTV ran out of juice. The dogs have a bad habit of running past the machine and pulling the cord from the jack. They have gotten the jack loose. I cannot repair it.

Just knowing what is wrong is not that helpful when you need the cursed thing NOW. While I ended up ordering another one - at a rather salty price, I dare say - needing my machine now meant I had to find a replacement NOW. Fortunately - or unfortunately, depending upon how you look at it - I have been in this predicament before. My answer was your friendly, neighborhood town library!

Borrowing CCTVs

Yep. The library owns two CCTV magnifiers. They were donated by the families of folks who no longer had any use for them. 🙁

I found out that I must have started something last time I had to go looking for one. At that time, we had to scour the whole building to find them, covered in dust. Staff had not even been sure what they were! This time? One of them was out on a long-term loan. Now, both of them are out on long-term loans.

From gathering dust in a storeroom to being in high demand! Out of self-interest, I might better have kept my mouth shut. However, it just seemed like a little tip to pass along. If you get stuck for a CCTV magnifier, try the library.

Recovering from a stressful week

So, yea. One step forward and two steps back, but I recovered my ground. It might not have been THAT bad a week. Now, I wonder what Eve Dallas is up to.