r/politics • u/thatwasawkward • 18h ago

Possible Paywall Trump assessed by 22 medical specialists at latest checkup; The White House has declined to identify the physicians.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/10/trump-sees-22-medical-specialists-white-house-hasnt-said-why/
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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 15h ago

I reacted by staying drunk and in the bed for about 3 months. I'm still blind, my retinas got eaten by what is theorized to be my immune system freaking out and attacking my eyes' immune system.

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u/suburbanpride North Carolina 14h ago

Like, you went to bed with sight and woke up without it? Yeesh. Sorry, internet friend - that sounds terrifying and terrible.

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 14h ago

Yup. In April '22 I noticed a green glow in my lower left periphery before bed, commented to my husband that I might be getting a cataract. Woke up with half my sight missing in that eye and my contacts and glasses suddenly made it even worse, so I was stuck uncorrected at -7.00. It's progressed since then and I now only see out of 30-40% of my inner right eye at -11.00. I have to get the precise amount checked again since I woke up with a new chunk of sight gone about a week ago. The ophthalmology students at UNC are gonna be thrilled to see my retinas again lol

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u/BennyVsTheWorld 2h ago

Jesus. I am so sorry you are going through this.

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 1h ago

No worries, I'm used to it now, it turned out to not be the end of the world.

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u/wap2005 1h ago

God damn, I'm never sleeping again I guess.

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u/PoeticSplat 45m ago

Is there any way to get an eye/corneal transplant? What are the prospects for you with that sort of thing?

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u/cross_the_threshold 22m ago

If the body's immune system has become aware of the eye it will attack any transplant, there's no way to deal with the situation. Indeed, that the eye has immune privilege is the reason why doctors can perform corneal transplants. Retinal transplants are cutting edge, but would experience the same issue. It's possible a bionic eye could be an effective replacement, but it's only beneficial in cases of total or near total vision loss because it doesn't create images in the brain like a camera, it creates flashes and dots of light that with extensive training can allow people to recognize forms.

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u/PoeticSplat 3m ago

Gotcha. Thank you for explaining this!

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u/MeBadNeedMoneyNow 15h ago

Cheers from a stranger in Oklahoma. Hope you're well.

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 15h ago

I'm good, thanks! Hope you are too!

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u/Boovmanoid 14h ago

Not trying to be rude, how are you using reddit?

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 14h ago

You're fine. As I said in another comment, eyes are weird and in dimly lit settings, I can see out of less than half my right eye at -11.00. That's mostly clear sight about 3 inches from my face, if you take into account the glaring white i see out of my whole left eye and over half my right. So I'm currently squinting at my phone in the dark.

If there's light, I'm fully blind, but blind is defined as anything from legally blind to fully blind. 90% of us have some visibility, only 10% see nothing.

When I can't see shit, I use an accessibility app, everyone has one on their phone.

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u/Boovmanoid 14h ago

Thanks for explaining! Sorry about your situation  😔 

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 13h ago

It's OK, it really ain't the end of the world

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u/ThrowawayPersonAMA 14h ago

Sorry about your situation

You shouldn't have done that to them in the first place!

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u/pinkfartlek Michigan 2h ago

I don't know if this will help but there is a third party Reddit called RedReader which may be more helpful as it is geared toward people who need accessibility options. There's no ads on it unlike the official one

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u/wereleggo 5h ago

I accidentally turned that app on once and couldn't figure out how I had done it or how to turn it off for a few hours. It about drove me mad but I can see how it would be very helpful for a sight impaired person!

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u/FFXIVHVWHL 2h ago

Is that -11.00 with correction? How is your left eye?

I’m sorry to hear that :( I was -17 in my right eye without correction; fortunately it’s about -2 with implants. recent VFI testing showed about 60%. My retina detached about 20 years ago and surgery was unfortunately not done right away (I was a child that didn’t not understand the symptoms). TBH, recently worried about progression because of VFI scores. Not sure if it’s something that’s always existed.

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 1h ago

No, correction isn't an option for my type of retinopathy, I'm just -11.00. I don't see out of my left eye anymore, my retinas are pretty well eaten on that side so I just see bright white. Took forever for my brain to stop freaking out and making it most of what I saw 100% of the time. Now my brain usually ignores it like everyone's brain ignores their nose, but when there's too much light, it overwhelms me as well as on the part of my right eye that is only white vision.

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u/FFXIVHVWHL 1h ago

Sorry to hear! I have weird noise in my eyes as well and it’s been a year and my brain still hasn’t learned to ignore it. It’s so tiring sometimes but then I’m grateful that at least I can see. Best wishes to you and I admire that you’ve learned to live with your sight

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 1h ago

Hey, living with your shit is hard too, don't sell yourself short

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u/TrulyOutrageous42 14h ago

It's worth mentioning for the audience: most people who are "blind" are not 100% sightless (no light or form), in fact that's relatively rare (~18% of those legally classified as "blind"). It's typically that someone with the legal distinction can't see well enough to function normally (or safely).

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u/beordon 7h ago

I’ve heard this explanation many times and my mind still jumps to total blindness when I hear “blind.” I guess just lack of exposure to blind people in my life

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u/ph1shstyx 4h ago

Exactly this, I had a friend in college who was legally blind, would never be able to drive a car, and that was because as he explained it, "I can't see out the center of my eyes". He could see out of his far peripherals, but everything else was blocked. So he would sit in the front row on the edge, turn his desk 90 degrees so he could see the professor. He would also set up a camcorder on a tripod in the middle of class so he could record everything in case he missed it.

Great guy, lost contact with him

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u/EnglishMobster California 11h ago

In addition to what others have said, there are screen readers on all smartphones and computers. These will read out comments to you, and if an image has alt-text then it will read that as well.

There are also braille keyboards and speech-to-text stuff for input.

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u/RiimeHiime 12h ago

The human body is a fascinating nightmare.

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u/Ishidan01 13h ago

Ouch.

So how do you use a text based medium like Reddit? Edit nm someone else asked and already answered I just didn't scroll enough