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This thread is so interesting to me and I find the information so helpful. I am so sorry to hear about your situation. It is so scary. I went through the same feelings about three years ago. I was legally blind in my right eye and I was scared I would lose sight in my left. I was a clinical consultant (post sales support), so similar to you, it FREAKED me out. I was only 36 at the time so I was reeling at how I was going to continue to work. I traveled a lot so I wasn't going to be able to rent a car. Not only career wise but it starts making you think about something you take for granted every day. That you are going to wake up in the morning, open your eyes and be able to see the sun shine through the windows. Like you, my loss of eyesight wasn't abrupt. I slowly lost vision in my right eye over a year and was legally blind for another year. My other eye had the same "troubling cells" as the right so my doctor and I thought it would be just a matter of time before I was legally blind in both eyes. So, I started to do everything I wanted to do and see. Everybody thought I was going through a mid-life crisis but its just because I wanted to do the stuff I never thought I would be able to do later. And Lubey is right. Not all people will sympathize. I had to change the way I did everything. My perception was so off... for the normal vision people reading this, walk around with one eye closed and imagine the other like you were looking through a cloudy glass of water. That was me. And since people couldn't "see" that I couldn't see, and I adapted pretty well and wasn't OFFICIALLY blind, people thought I was flighty or clumsy. Working on something on the computer took me twice as long because I had to enlarge the screen up to 150%. At the beginning it was horrible but its true. You start to get good at it and adapt. I tripped all the time at the beginning but I got good at feeling for curbs with the front of my foot.
I feel for you. After a procedure, the vision in my right eye has returned to about 75% and I am not complaining. My left eye is hanging in there. No guarantees though. I see my cornea specialist often. Take all the advice you are getting here and I am going to be paying special attention since I might find myself in the same situation one day. And the guys are right. Don't throw in the towel just yet. I met a blind judge this past summer. He showed me his iPhone and it was amazing. He could do everything we do with it except take pictures with it. And he brings a seeing eye dog with him into court. If I was ever to lose my sight, I would be so grateful that I was alive during this time and not 30 years ago. With the technology we have today, there are so many things we can do despite our shortcomings. Start researching now. And start getting out there and LOOKING at everything you have wanted to see in your entire life. Make sure you see it. To know that you aren't going to be able to in the future, you would be surprised how you could sit for hours looking at the same thing. When I thought I was going to lose my sight, I used to sit and stare at my boy's faces while they slept. I tried to remember every curve, every nuance in their face so that when I did lose my sight, I could feel it and close my eyes and remember. I did that with the things I sought out to "see" and do. I learned to surf. So I closed my eyes and listened to the ocean. And then I would open my eyes and look. Then I closed my eyes again and listened. I think I did that over 100 times for about an hour. I think everybody on the beach thought I was nuts.
Don't take the little things for granted...and be appreciative of the little things you still have.
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