Unknown Speaker 0:01 Right now in Montana, about 5% of adults are either blind or have low vision. This is the first podcast in a three part series with our guest, Jacob Krissovich. Jacob was born with sight. In his early teenage years, he began to struggle with his vision. And by the time he was in his 30s, he was completely blind. We'll dive into his experience and amazing story, daily life and those awkward questions, as well as life with a guide dog in these next three episodes. I'm your host, Jennifer Van Syckle, longtime health care worker turned health educator, thank you for joining us for this episode of Talking Health in the 406, where we're one community under the Big Sky. Unknown Speaker 0:49 Jacob, when we visited with you before, you kind of told me that you started so you have no sight now? Yes, but it kind of started when you were around 12 or remind me the age tell me the story, what was a milestone so to speak, so I could see how that would stick out started when I was 10, that went blind in my right eye completely by 12 by 12 came into play. So at 10, I was playing hockey, and I got hit really hard and slammed my head off the ice and was like really sure I got a concussion. But they just weren't as good about him back then. And I got up and I was really out of it and woozy and everything. And I was fine, then, you know, after that went away, I was fine. I just, you know, did what 10 year old boys do went on playing. And then slowly over the preceding weeks, Unknown Speaker 1:48 I noticed a black dot in my vision. And again, like a 10 year old boy ignored it. And I got progressively bigger and bigger and bigger until I just I couldn't really see much it was Unknown Speaker 2:03 and it really scared me. So I finally said something to my parents, because I just thought it would go away and it didn't and and it wasn't like right in the center of your vision. So you're trying to read at school or whatever it was like a little off center. But then as it got bigger it was taking up if I recollect correctly, it took up like the top of my vision. And Unknown Speaker 2:22 by the time we got in to the doctor because you know it was Helena was still smaller, right, a lot smaller back then. And so we just went to the pediatrician because we weren't sure what to do. And luckily she was knowledgeable enough to know that it was, you know, retina related. And so she sent us to or she immediately called an eye doctor here in town who referred us over to Billings immediately, and went to Billings and because at that point, I could just see silhouettes of people, if they're standing in front of a light, it went fast. Wow. And it was terrifying at 10. And so they took us to Billings or I went my parents took me to Billings and the retinal specialist at that point told me that if they didn't do surgery the next day that I'd be blind in my right eye. And, you know, I appreciate the honesty, but I was also 10. So maybe could have told my parents and Unknown Speaker 3:21 relay the information in a Unknown Speaker 3:24 a kid friendly way. Um, so obviously I was terrified. And I've never had surgery before and just all those things. And anyways, they did the surgery, because they waited so long it ended up being Unknown Speaker 3:51 it happened again a few months later, just on its own. No more bumping trauma and was your other eye fine. Yeah, mother was full time. Yeah, my other eye was fine this whole time. And then they happened several more times. They kept doing surgeries. And by 12 I went blind my right eye. Wow. Yeah. And about the same time as that. I'm a little hazy on the timeline, but it was either slightly before it or slightly after I believe was slightly after it happened to my left eye. And just on its own, and just on its own on the lower hockey injuries. And that's why at that point, originally they thought maybe it was tied to head trauma because in younger individuals, retinas don't care, they don't detach, that's usually in the 50 plus that that happens. Unknown Speaker 4:50 And they kind of ruled that out because of the fact that there had been no recent trauma that it had to this at that point had been like, two or three years since Unknown Speaker 5:00 The trauma so it made no sense that it would happen in my left eye. So I between the ages of 10 and 17 ended up having 14 eyes surgeries. And were you was Montana able to handle that? Or did you have to go out of state, I did ultimately have to go out of state so that retinal specialists who did my first surgery only did that one, and then left to another state. So then I ended up going to Great Falls, they did my surgeries. Unknown Speaker 5:26 Right up until right before I went blind in my right eye. And at that point, the doctor in Great Falls just he said this is beyond my level of expertise. I can't get this to stop, I'm gonna send you down to Salt Lake City. There's a center down there called the John A. Moran Eye Center, which is like world renowned. It's that facility. And John Hopkins are the two top two eye surgery centers in the world. I went to that one. And I went and saw that specialist. And he at that point said, I'm gonna do my best. But there's a lot of scar tissue build up a lot of trauma that's happened with your right eye. And unfortunately, he wasn't able to save the vision in that eye. But then, after several surgeries with the left one, he finally decided to do something that was experimental that he had that they had never done before with a patient. And so they did that. Unknown Speaker 6:24 And thanks to him trying that out my stabilized out at 17 until about five years ago. Wow. So yeah, it bought me some time, which is really nice. Yeah. And so there you are going through middle school, high school, the tough years anyway. And, you know, no more sports. Did it affect your life in any other way in middle school in high school besides having to miss school? Yeah, yeah, tremendously. Unknown Speaker 8:04 Thank goodness, one kid spoke up, but they were actually going to like put me in a freezer like a chest freezer. And one kid was gonna sit on top of it. And, you know, just it was quite severe. And so that was that was hard on top of already going through all the surgeries and the trauma that goes with that. Oh, that's unreal. That's, that's almost beyond bullying. Yeah, that's, yeah, it was very systematic to the point where I did not want to go to school. I want was, you know, no kid wants to go to school. Unknown Speaker 8:35 Especially in middle school, but at that point, it was fear driven. I teachers were worried about me because I wouldn't. When I walked down the hallways, I would always be staring at the ground. I kind of figured if I didn't make eye contact, maybe they wouldn't notice me. And they were smart. They would do it in areas where teachers weren't and to be fair to the teachers. They're understaffed. And they can't watch every inch of the school. It's just not possible. Yeah, or appropriate for like bathrooms and things, you know, yeah. So was that middle school and high school to that, or did it get a little better? Or worse in high school, middle school was the apex of it. Okay. But then it did continue into freshman year, less of the physical but more verbal at that point. And then sophomore year, thank goodness, I hit a growth spurt and I grew literally a foot in a year I all I did was basically eat and sleep. And so I ended up coming out to be like six foot and so that made it easier. Plus, I made some really good friends going from East Valley Middle School to Helena High, you get a different group of kids. And so I made some really good friends and those kids kind of they were quite big and that wasn't on purpose. They just ended up being that way. And so they kind of looked out for me and like good. I remember one time these two kids were talking Unknown Speaker 9:59 about out when I was walking over to where my mom was going to pick me up these two kids were talking about, you know, beating me up and my friend happened to come up behind them and heard them and intervened. And they basically tucked tail and run because he was a big boy. So, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Advocate and tell our kids, you know, that's the thing. Teach your kids to not do that and to stand up for others definitely. Then that was the thing that was grateful for it was, you know, it wasn't like my friends were aggressive or anything they just all it took was them advocating and standing up just saying something like, leave him alone. Like, and yeah, back down. Yeah. So many people not saying yeah, yeah, the power of the voice is bigger than people realize. Definitely also learned a sense of humor is a really good way to disarm a situation. Yes. Jennifer Van Syckle 10:51 In many aspects of life. Absolutely. So I'm, so you finish high school? And then and you have by that point in time, you were completely blind in one eye? Yes. And so then you knew you were on borrowed time with the other? Were you aware that, okay, let's just go for life, or were you hoping at that point in time that they can. This'll just, yeah, hang in there. We've got it, or Unknown Speaker 11:16 I took the approach of, I don't know when this is going to end and I'm gonna live my life. I'm not going to be dumb and run headfirst, first into Unknown Speaker 11:28 But I'm still gonna go do things like I'm still gonna go skiing, I'm gonna go wakeboarding. And, you know, just these things, I'm just going to be careful, you know, as careful as you can be, because I just realized that at some point, this could happen anyways, and especially when it was more up to me. You know, my parents wanted me to experience life, but they also wanted to keep me safe, like parents want to, you know, and so, so I was on my own, I really did, I went and did those things. I was fortunately, I was still able to drive with what they call a conditional permit, where you're not supposed to drive at night and things like that. So I was still able to drive because I had good vision in my left eye. But yeah, so I went and I lived my life. I went backpacking, I went, you know, camping, and fishing, and all those things, you know, I still. And while you were doing all that, were you kind of also where you may be learning braille or anything like that, at that point in time to for the just in case I wish. Yeah, I mean, you know, 18 year old boys aren't very, they're still not very smart. The grand scheme of things, sorry, 18 year old boys, maybe listening, you are a boy, Unknown Speaker 12:45 you are a boy for a long time, much longer than girls. And so no, I wish I would have been I had people ask me that, you know, and I ended up going to college, right after school. I was fortunate in that I perfomred well on the ATCs. I learned to adapt in terms of education, you know, I went from missing all that school, I had to either give up or push through. And I had an up having to self teach, you know, how to teach myself a lot of things. And the teachers were great in helping me with that. But Unknown Speaker 13:14 I ended up scoring well, on ACT's I got good scholarships, I went to Carroll. And at that point, I got set up with blind and low vision services, which is a program through voc rehab. And their whole purpose is actually part of DPHHS. Their whole purpose is to help people with make getting post secondary education, whether it's your typical college or some sort of trade. And that's Voc Rehab, in general, but blind and low vision services is focused, obviously, on blind individuals and people with low vision and Unknown Speaker 13:51 and so how many years total? Then did you get to go? Did you go with just that one eye until you lost your vision for four years ago? Was that? Are we talking like 10 years or 15? From the very when I very first lost my vision in the right eye? Yes, it would have been Oh, man, you asked me to do math? I am. Unknown Speaker 14:13 Don't ask me to do it. You'll get the wrong answer. It would have been approximately 16 years 16. That's a lot of living. Yeah. In there. Definitely. It is. And I got to do a lot of great things. I threw a program in high school for that was college prep called Unknown Speaker 14:29 Upper Bound. Oh, yes. Um, I don't know if it's still in existence. I hope so is it's a great program. It's a program that helps kids who's who are either low income or their parents that that they don't have like a bachelor's degree that work if you have an associate's or when your parents does, but the whole idea is to get kids to go to college. And so through that program, I got to go to Washington, DC and New York City, which was really cool. And also when I was in college, I got to go to Botswana, Africa for two and a half months Unknown Speaker 15:00 so I got to do a lot in those 16 years. I made a point of it. Nice, nice. And you're married. So you must have met somebody had a big, beautiful wedding. Unknown Speaker 15:12 And everything. Yes, I met my wife when I was in college. And we met at a place here in town that used to be in existence. Unfortunately, it went under called Boys and Girls Club. It was an after school program for low income children. And so we met there. And then we were friends at first, and we ended up starting to date. And then we ended up getting married and two young boys named Ash and Declan, they are 8 and 6, almost 9 and 6. So you have kind of an interesting case in that. So you had life where you saw what your you saw your sons be born, you saw their faces, you know, you know what your wife looks like? And then when you started to lose vision in that second I did it just happen like, boom, overnight, or was it like, oh, man, there's that black spot again, and it's getting bigger? What was it like losing that second. So it was interesting in that it manifested itself differently because of their experimental surgery he did at 17 that stopped it, what he ended up doing was putting a silicone gel in the eye inside of your eye, I guess I should back up here, some people might not know what a retina is, it's basically the lining at the back of your eye, and the image projects onto it. And then your brain takes that through the nerve and make sense of it. Um, and that lining tore and inside of your eye, there's a fluid called vitreous fluid. And what he did was the vitreous fluids kind of thinner, it's less viscous. And what he did was he put in a really thick, viscous silicone gel in there. And the whole idea was, if it's thicker, it'll apply more pressure on the retina and stop it from lifting. And so with that, the signs were different. Normally, you see flash flashing lights, or you'll see floating dots, or you'll see a curtain Unknown Speaker 17:17 at what happened with this was my vision started to get blurry in the middle of my vision. And I was really confused. I was scared. I didn't know what was going on. I didn't want to go through this. Again, it was really hard from a mental health standpoint. And so I went saw my doctor, they're like, Well, you have macular edema, we're not really sure what's causing it and then slowly got worse. And they ended up finally realizing was that the retina was separating, but it was just doing it so slowly, because the oil that it was hard to notice at first. And so they did a bunch of things at first, like steroid injections and stuff, not realizing it was the retina that was detaching again. And so it kind of was gradually decreasing. And it was getting just essentially blurrier and blurrier, and instead of getting dark. And then they realized that it was the retina detaching again, and they went in to do surgery. And at that point, I was legally blind, but which is for people who don't know is your vision is 2200. Or worse, and when you're considered legally blind, which means that something that person with ordinary good sight would see, like you guys would see something assuming you guys have good vision. Unknown Speaker 18:40 You guys would see something at 20 feet and be able to read it. Or I mean, sorry, flip that, um, what you guys will be able to see at 200 feet away, I would have to be 20 feet away to read Wow. Wow, it's basically the way that works out. And so at that point, I was legally blind. They did the surgery and the doctor said you know, we'll we'll see how this takes but your eye didn't respond. Super great to it. And sure enough, as the weeks went on, it's Unknown Speaker 19:21 And so anyways, from there it just gradually slowly got darker and darker and I didn't they he didn't know where it was gonna stop. I didn't know where was gonna stop and ended up stopping with me being totally blind without being able to see any light or anything. So wow, yeah. Wow. And then and that was it sounds like over a month, just a matter of months. So yeah. How did you cope? Were you still able to you know, with work on life in general, were you just adapting as fast as you could? Or did you need like to take a couple months off and try and mentally just I Jennifer Van Syckle 19:59 o or what were you doing with your mental health and life at that point? Unknown Speaker 20:03 Yeah. Excellent question. I first I was so busy with adapting and trying to keep my head above water with work and being a dad because you know and a husband like, your life doesn't stop for you to adapt and learn. Unknown Speaker 20:23 You either keep up and do your best or you, wallow. Thank you for joining us for this episode. We're gonna end the podcast here. But don't worry, we're coming back with a second podcast with Jacob and we'll pick up right where we left off. In this episode, you heard Jacob mentioned blind and low vision services. This is a bureau at the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. Another great Bureau is the vocational rehabilitation and Blind Services Bureau. For more information on these and other programs available, visit Talkinghealthinthe406.mt.gov And we'll see you again next time. Until then, take care Transcribed by https://otter.ai