Ah ha! Have you been waiting with bated breath to hear of my next two club memberships? I’ll bet that you were thinking that I would write about vision loss. Certainly that is what I have been writing about ever since I started this blog back in 2011. Indeed, since my own vision loss nearly forty years ago now, I have been a member of this vision loss group.
As a partially sighted, visually impaired or legally blind person, I am a member of many subsets of this large group of people. For instance, as I write, I am aware that you are reading this because even though I don’t know who you are, you have some sort of vested interest in vision loss. I am also part of a small group of people who meet in person once a month. This is our regular support group. I also meet with others on a monthly zoom call. I am a CNIB client and although I’m not personally acquainted with the many other clients across the country, sometimes in our separate travels we will meet. We often carry objects that mark our membership in the group – ID badges, white canes, or an accompanying guide dog. These help us to recognize each other and mark our separate identities.
Just over three months ago now, I became a member of a new and different club. My friend, Barbara, has jokingly called this “The Joint Group”. No, it’s not necessarily what you were thinking. The joints referred to are our knees, hips and shoulders!
Barbara and I had knee replacement surgery within days of each other. Although we had never met before, there was an instant kinship. Where did it hurt? Did your leg swell like mine? How are the exercises going? How is the pain? What does your scar look like? Are you walking better? Does your knee feel hot? Is it sensitive to the touch? Do you have acute pain or does it just ache? That was three months ago and Barbara and I have stayed in touch with email support for each other. The knee replacement surgery did more than fix our knees. It was the basis for a new friendship with shared surgical experiences as the initiation to the club.
Now, I know I titled this post Join the Club. This is not an admonition for you to endure the pain of a kidney stone or face the challenges of vision loss or go through the surgery of joint replacement. Instead, I hope that if you have experienced any of these things, my words would encourage you to find support by meeting and talking with others in similar situations. As humans we aren’t meant to be islands unto ourselves. We are meant to be social people. Our trials and tribulations can be better borne when we share these with others. So, if you have a story to tell or a special experience in your life – Join the Club .
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