ART BY:
 aricub

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The official day that I was told I would never see again was December 15th, 2016. I felt really bad for the doctor who had to tell me as he was the third and final specialist I was to see on that fateful day. (The first two being my Cornea specialist and Glaucoma Specialist with the bad news bringer being the Retina Specialist.).

The abridged story is that my right eye, which had been my only functioning eye since I was five years old, could no longer be surgically manipulated in a way that would not result in almost immediate failure. The ‘white’ / ‘conjunctiva’ of my eye was completely gone, which was needed to prevent the surgically-implanted ‘drainage tubes’ from becoming exposed to infection. My retina, which had been bleed into when a surgery went wrong in 2011, detached when my eye collapsed from a total lack of ocular pressure in 2012, detached again in March 2016 due to the eye’s inability to produce enough fluid to maintain the reattached retina’s integrity, and detached one final time towards the end of September 2016 could no longer be repaired, and my cornea, which had been partially replaced by DSEK after developing a corneal ulcer in 2007 from a surgical complication in November 2006 and partially replaced again in January 2016, which did take and worked until a ‘drainage tube’ exposed itself from what little conjunctiva I had left in the eye, occurred. (If the drainage tube did not become exposed, I may still have some usable eyesight today. However, as you all know, it did expose and the surgery traumatized the eye to not make enough fluid to support ocular integrity.).

It should go without saying that, in Fall 2013, I commissioned ‘Lil Moon’ to make a plushie of Snowdrop for me. This plush would join me for all of my eye appointments throughout 2014 thru 2016. She also came along for the procedures that removed my right eye in 2019 and inoculated my left eye in 2022.

Although I, regrettably, went way too ‘Super-Happy, Chirpy Birdie’ to the point I caused ‘Lil Moon’ and the voice and writer of Snowdrop, ‘Meredith Simms’, to block me on all platforms I had followed them on, I still deeply treasure what both had done in helping me to get through to where the gift of sight was mine nomore.

All my friends were there to help me through this difficult time in my life. It is unfair to name any names, but you know who you are and I will forever treasure how our friendship was able to overcome the fact I no longer could physically see your art and animations.

What did help me was a series of stories where I made the Equestrian / MLP: FiM version of Yosh share my unfortunate fate of going blind. These stories will soon be easily accessed through the Patreon that Lucca is helping me develop, but the first tale can be found over on ‘FiM Fiction’ at the following link.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&.....UxfjWFKcCLCoAV

The artwork was done by Coping With Limitations Through Pony contributor and presenter, Sapphire / Aricub. Other art, which was done by ‘Doodle Noodle’ and others can be found over on our Patreon page later in the day today.

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Okay, I should get my dino-ducky butt back up to Papa Lucca before I get in trouble for staying up way-way-way past my bedtime. Talk with you all soon as the celebration continues!