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I wanted to post a reply about elderly driving. about 30 something years ago a year before she died, my mother was diagnosed with Diabetic retinopathy, and declared legally blind, she had big chunks of space that appeared as holes in what she looked at. So she dutifully went to the MA reg. of motor vehicles to turn in her license. They had her take an eye test with a machine, now if she moved her eyes around she could then see what had been in the holes in her vision, so she passed the test and they reissued her a new license. Remember she was declared LEGALLY BLIND.
when she got home I hit the roof and called the DMV and reamed them a new one, also wrote to registra of motor vehicles for the state. She turned in the license anyway. As I told her fine you can move your eyes to see something but suppose you are driving and child runs out into one of those blind spots?
Anyway it is not helpful when the state is licensing the Blind. Several years later I was in a restaurant and a man walked in clearly blind, long white cane sweeping in front of him and felt his was to a booth.
Well as it turned out he and my party were leaving at the same time, We watched as he made his way to his CAR and DROVE out of the parking lot, very very poorly I might add.
Such things should give us pause to think! the trouble is that there is very little public transit in many places and elderly probably don't have money for taxi's either, so what are these people to do? Many do not have family or friends that can run errands for them. So just telling them to stop driving is not the answer.
I wanted to post a reply about elderly driving. about 30 something years ago a year before she died, my mother was diagnosed with Diabetic retinopathy, and declared legally blind, she had big chunks of space that appeared as holes in what she looked at. So she dutifully went to the MA reg. of motor vehicles to turn in her license. They had her take an eye test with a machine, now if she moved her eyes around she could then see what had been in the holes in her vision, so she passed the test and they reissued her a new license. Remember she was declared LEGALLY BLIND.
when she got home I hit the roof and called the DMV and reamed them a new one, also wrote to registra of motor vehicles for the state. She turned in the license anyway. As I told her fine you can move your eyes to see something but suppose you are driving and child runs out into one of those blind spots?
Anyway it is not helpful when the state is licensing the Blind. Several years later I was in a restaurant and a man walked in clearly blind, long white cane sweeping in front of him and felt his was to a booth.
Well as it turned out he and my party were leaving at the same time, We watched as he made his way to his CAR and DROVE out of the parking lot, very very poorly I might add.
Such things should give us pause to think! the trouble is that there is very little public transit in many places and elderly probably don't have money for taxi's either, so what are these people to do? Many do not have family or friends that can run errands for them. So just telling them to stop driving is not the answer.
My original post was erased, but Anyway, excellent post.
I chose not to renew my driver's license, it was best for all man kind that I just not renew, it wouldn't be safe to have me drive. It is at times a huge inconvience, but one for medical reasons, I hadn't much choice to self impose the no more driving rule. There are resources available in most areas of this great country, just check with you local counties public transportation department. I procrastinated, just up until yesterday about downloading an application off of my local transit site, I took it with me to my doctor's appt, they filled it out, I mailed it today. I usually do this first thing when I arrive in a new city, but like I said, I'd been procrastinating. They generally will offer door to door services even in some rural areas.
I still have dreams I drive regulary, but even in the dreams, the outcome isn't always good. Enjoy it while you all can, but don't push past time when you become a danger on the road. Pretty Please with a cherry on top.
Such things should give us pause to think! the trouble is that there is very little public transit in many places and elderly probably don't have money for taxi's either, so what are these people to do? Many do not have family or friends that can run errands for them. So just telling them to stop driving is not the answer.
This is the single most important issue for me, whether I stay here or move. My adult kids will not have time to run me around on errands, and friends cannot be depended on for that. The bus is great if one can truly negotiate the logistics of using it. Taxis can cost a fortune. The senior van is the best hope. I just eliminated a number of locations because of lack of senior center/senior transport. I don't care how lovely a place is, it's not for me without these essentials.
Wasn't sure where to post this, but thought I would give an update on the subject of not having a ride to doctors when sedation is required and escort home.
Whenever I have relocated to new places I've been lucky enough to be able to establish relationships in areas where there are people that if they know you're in need of help, they offer assistance. My own silence (silly self pride) kept me from getting the help the first time around. I'm happy to report back that last week, Thursday, when I had to go back for another procedure of which required I have someone escort me home or the medical staff wouldn't authorize giving me sedation, I was put in twilight stage this time around. This was thanks to a wonderful lady that has a heart of gold, I think she even rearranged her work schedule, though she didn't say so. I'm forever grateful to her and her hubby for going out of their way to accomodate my needs. I will be treating them to lunch. Everything went off without a hitch. They even let me have my ipod in the room, but I remember nothing much about the procedure, seems it was over in a minute. Good stuff.
Some other good news, my grand-daughter just got accepted to the college of her choice. YAY! Can't believe my daughter called the week before this announcement to say she gives thanks to me for the accomplishments of her daughter. That's a looooooooonnnnnnng story, but considering the love hate relationship my daughter has with me, I'll take it with a smile, but keep a straight head about it.
What great news about your procedure/sedation and about your daughter, TRosa! One of my daughters has a love/hate relationship with me so I understand.
I've seldom gone into this thread before now. I dont know why -- I guess I just never "see" it at the top. I happened to notice your User Name as the last poster today and thought I'd drop in. I need to remember to do that more often.
Keeper went to the trouble of creating this chat thead for us, but everybody seems to continue using the regular threads as chat threads, thus taking them off-topic for the most trivial reasons. Just look how long it's been since anyone has used this chat thead! Perhaps no one will even notice this post, but this is the place to chit-chat and it's hard to be off-topic because there is no topic, other than retirement/senior issues in the broadest sense.
Keeper went to the trouble of creating this chat thread for us, but everybody seems to continue using the regular threads as chat threads, thus taking them off-topic for the most trivial reasons. Just look how long it's been since anyone has used this chat thread! Perhaps no one will even notice this post, but this is the place to chit-chat and it's hard to be off-topic because there is no topic, other than retirement/senior issues in the broadest sense.
This thread doesn't work because of the lack of organization.
I saw where the Taxmegeddon thread was moved to the politics/controversies forum. Hence forth, I will try to withhold my opinion. The last place I want my replies to appear are under that nasty forum.
I thought this was a terrific thread to post in, but seemed no one cared to converse about day to day non specific topics less they were off topic in other threads. I guess there's a lot of 60's rebels around that just don't like rules, so they're gonna do as they dang well please till they get spanked by the mods.
This thread doesn't work because of the lack of organization.
I saw where the Taxmegeddon thread was moved to the politics/controversies forum. Hence forth, I will try to withhold my opinion. The last place I want my replies to appear are under that nasty forum.
Lenora: It would be a real shame to lose your opinion in the Retirement Forum. Please reconsider. It only happens once in a blue moon that a thread gets moved out of the Retirement Forum to any other forum.
This thread doesn't work because of the lack of organization.
I saw where the Taxmegeddon thread was moved to the politics/controversies forum. Hence forth, I will try to withhold my opinion. The last place I want my replies to appear are under that nasty forum.
Not every post that expresses a stance of some kind, or raises an issue, that pertains to a particular defined demographic like seniors needs to be exiled to a another forum like politics. Seniors (most) want to discuss general topics like finance, relationships/family, hobbies, etc from a senior perspective., not from the perspective of just any age. The challenge in forums is structure. I do not know how one of our most popular retirement threads got to be a stickie (how those get created), but perhaps Retirement Forum stickies by subject matter would alleviate the constant straying from the original topic. (What senior in real life conversation even remembers an original topic when speaking?)
In all the years I’ve been on CD, I cannot name (in the Retirement section) a single thread that stayed on topic for very many posts. After a few posts someone rants or digresses, and it goes off from there, sooner or later to sink to the bottom of the radar and disappear. In the Retirement section, we keep reinventing the same general topics from the past, and in so doing lose the continuity that was created when those topics were first created. I for one have no problem with continuing posting on threads created several years ago, if the conversation stays more or less on topic. Many longtime users know what they want to ignore, as well.
Last edited by RiverBird; 05-15-2012 at 03:51 AM..
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