I existed like this for six weeks, in darkness and constant pain. My husband became my carer; he fed, bathed, did hourly eye drops and did everything in the house including looking after both of our children as well as me. For both of us it was incredibly lonely. I was bored, I wanted to read the news, see a friend and just feel normal and not like I was a burden on my husband.
One Saturday, a few weeks in, everything came to a head. I had only left the house for hospital appointments. My husband was physically and mentally exhausted from doing everything and dealing with the shock and uncertainty of my sight loss and inability to do anything. It was like the mental load had physically paralyzed him. We knew we needed some help from outside our four walls but this was not something either of us had ever sought before.
Monday morning my husband called the GP. He asked for help, he broke down, he felt like he had somehow failed as a husband. But, as I type this, I am literally sat here with tears in my eyes because I am so proud of him for recognising he needed some help. It was not failure; it was acceptance that he is human and there is only so much we can deal with on our own. During our entire relationship, every hurdle we have faced we have got through together, but he was so busy being everything to everyone else that he had nothing left for himself. Something had to give.