[guide.chat] My story ( Part two )

From: "James Liddell" <james.liddell2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Guide Chat" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2012 22:18:29 +0100
     So, where were we? I had just - reluctantly - put my spiritual size tens 
in it and become a Christian. I was still at secondary school, and still 
dodging assemblies - this time with a few like-minded others, we used an empty 
classroom as a place for a student Christian Union.
By this time, I was a prefect ( the staff must have been desperate!) and immune 
from the bullying which had plagued me since I started primary school.
Oh - and I was now, at last, registered blind.
This happened when I had gone to my annual appointment with my ophthalmologist. 
I had just struggled through my O grades, and, in passing, as the doctor noted 
a deterioration in my vision, I asked what aids I could have to get me through 
the Highers ( Scottish equivalent of A levels ) She asked me what aids I had. 
When I said "None", she was shocked.
"But surely, as a blind person, you should have a magnifier at least".
When I told her I wasn't blind, she went through the encyclopaedia which 
comprised my notes and told me that the hospital had blundered - I should have 
been registered blind at birth, as, according to all my results, my vision was 
not good enough to be called partial sight.
"So, how do you manage getting around?" she asked.
I told her I'd broken my leg - twice, sprained and twisted ankles umpteen 
times, wrecked literally dozens of pairs of trousers as a result of various 
falls.
Within a fortnight, I'd started long cane training.

     You can imagine the impact I caused at school, suddenly turning up 
wielding a long cane...the jokes, snide remarks and jibes hurt almost as much 
as the bullying had. At least, now, with my new-found faith, I could deal with 
it without cracking up or going into a period of self-imposed isolation. And I 
now had a magnifier - a very primitive CCTV, which made reading textbooks a 
whole lot easier. I managed my highers a lot easier than I ever did my O 
grades. I had applied for University, initially to study Egyptology and Ancient 
History, with theology leading to a qualification in Divinity - I was keeping 
my options open.

     An essay forwarded ( unknown to me ) by my history teacher, to the Egypt 
Exploration Society, led to me getting a bursary, and a two-month, all expenses 
paid, trip to Egypt, not as a tourist, but as a student, with access to places 
the tourists couldn't have dreamed of.
Those two months were marvellous, spending time in tombs at Thebes and Tanis, 
and weeks behind the scenes at the Cairo Museum. We crammed as much as we could 
into those weeks, preparing us for the years of study.

     I was lucky in that I stayed with relatives while going to uni, and I 
enjoyed the first three quarters of my first year. For two or three years 
previously, I'd been having spasms of muscle pain, which I ignored, despite 
these times of pain getting longer, and the interval of pain free times 
decreasing. Eventually, though, I felt so unwell, I had to consult a doctor at 
Uni.  Tests, tests, tests and more ruddy tests! For six months they prodded and 
poked...and then told me that I had an inactive tumour on my pituitary gland.

    It turned out that this 'tumour' was a material which had probably been 
there since before birth, and it wouldn't grow or extend, so I wasn't going to 
pop my clogs. But, with maturity, the tumour was active, meaning that the pain 
was here to stay. At the same time, my vision, which had been getting worse 
over the years, was now so bad that, with a combination of both these events, I 
had to give up Uni.
Jim
PTL!
Skype jim.liddell6
[guide.chat] My story ( Part two )

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