Right out of the chute, in January, I had eye symptoms. Thinking it was simple pink eye, off we go to the eye doctor to get some antibiotic drops. ‘Cause that’s what you do for pink eye, right? No, no it wasn’t pink eye, it was my first ever RA/Sjogren’s flare in my eyes. What I didn’t know is that sometimes Sjogren’s can go rogue and cause eye issues which, if not addressed quickly, can compromise your vision, even to the point of losing it. So it was a stat head CT to check that eye socket, followed by tons – TONS – of steroids to try and save the vision. The steroid taper was long, almost 2-1/2 months, and was high-dose for many weeks before we started a taper. I had to go to the eye doctor every 2-3 days for weeks, as well as seeing my Rheumatologist several times. About this time, I had obligated to play for a friend’s choir rehearsals for a project he was working on. The flare happened just before the 2nd rehearsal and I remember being unable to read my music that night. I’ve read music since elementary school and while I’d prayed for God to please spare my hands, it honestly didn’t occur to me to ask Him to save my vision. I sat at the piano knowing there were lots of mistakes made that night and hoping my dear friend didn’t notice. I’m sure he did. I cried itty-bitty quiet tears at the piano and then wept on the way home. That was a very sad evening, a feeling I won’t forget.

Thankfully, by taking the meds, resting my eyes (no computer, no TV, no nothing) and listening to my docs, we got in front of the eye flare, but not before compromised vision along with some driving restrictions that still remain today. The realization that your vision is blurry and depth perception is all out of whack will make you not want to drive. For a while, I was honestly afraid I’d hurt someone.