Sorry to hear what you're going through.

On the practical side (if you're in the US. If not I will try to get different useful information for you):

- Look if there are any organizations that serve blind people in your area and get in touch with them to get an idea of what services are locally available.

- Look up your state's "department of rehab" or "vocational rehabilitation" office and sign up ASAP. They can help fund anything from orientation and mobility training to equipment that you need to keep doing your job.

- Look into applying for SSI or SSDI in the mean time, as well as using any short term disability insurance you may have if needed.

- Get in touch with your local chapter of the National Federation of The Blind. (If you let me know where you live, I would be happy to look it up for you if you'd like.) Members can provide you support, practical advice, access to the resources in your area, and so many other things.

- The NFB will send you a free white cane, no requirements except for being visually impaired or blind. [Click here]
(https://nfb.org/free-cane-program) to apply for one. The attached book "the care and feeding of the long white cane" is an excellent introduction to some of the travel skills you can learn with orientation and mobility instruction.

- How are you doing with using your phone and computer? If I have a better idea of what your current challenges are, I can give you a place to start.

- Consider enrolling in a residential training program for blindness skills. In my opinion, the best to look at are

- Colorado Center for the Blind 800-401-4632, www.cocenter.org

- Louisiana Center for the Blind 800-234-4166 www.louisianacenter.org

- BLIND, Incorporated (in Minnesota) 800-597-9558, www.blindinc.org

Your state may have a residential training program, but the standard of instruction and philosophy of blindness may not be as good. Do your homework and ask people in your area. You can go to an out of state program for training, and your local and state NFB chapter can help you secure the funding to cover your entire expenses if rehab gives you any trouble.

A typical program lasts 6-9 months (with the colorado center, you live in student apartments that are near the center) and provides instruction in technology use, home skills, cane travel, braille reading, career skills, as well as recreation.

With regards to your immediate concerns, one month after a stroke is pretty much one of the most justified times in your life to lean on your friends for help (especially considering your husband choosing to leave!)

- Cabs, uber, or lyft will get you from place to place when you can't get a friend to drive you but cost more of course. If you live in an area with public transit, with practice and training you will be able to use public transit to get around. You might also be able to get paratransit services for door to door rides places that might be more affordable.

- For grocery trips, ask a friend to start with. Once you're more confident to go alone, ask the grocery store for a "personal shopper" or "assistant" when you go in each visit (to help you locate things on the shelf and read labels for you.) It will get easier with practice and patience. Having a list prepared helps. Grocery delivery is also great if you can get it.

- For medications, if you cannot read the labels, many major pharmacies and mail order pharmacies offer audio labels (with a little reader) or large print labels with the "scrip talk" program, call 1-855-773-2579 to sign up.

The early days are scary. Let people into your life who will try to help, even if they won't always get it right. I promise that when you get the help you need and start to rebuild your confidence, it gets much easier.

If there's anything specific you have questions about or are struggling with (or ten or twenty things,) or you want to talk, I am always open to it as well. There are a lot of people on this subreddit who have been somewhere similar to where you are and want to help you succeed.

Start with you. Anti-depressents helped me through a very rough time. Keep yourself busy with things you enjoy. Learn a musical instrument, write more, paint more. Get a better job. Volunteer in whatever field you are proficient in. I know you have power. Find it again. It's only temporarily lost.

Sounds like we may have the same condition, I hadr a stroke 2 years ago during a heart procedure and lost all vision on my left side in both eyes.

Firstly, you already know this but your husband is a grade A twat.

You'll be surprised how quickly you will learn to adapt to the sight loss and can still do almost everything you did before your sight loss.

>I am afraid to be a burden to friends

That's what friends are for, also any family that is near you. I'm sure you would be there for them if they needed you, let them do the same for you. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it while you learn to adjust to your new situation.

/u/-shacklebolt- has listed some great resources if you are in the US. If you're not in the US, which country are you in? We can try and point you in the right direction of localised resources that may be able to help. If you're in the UK I can help you there.

If you're in the UK then most supermarkets do home delivery and big chain pharmacies like Boots will do free home delivery.

You'll probably need a white cane - depending on your type of sight loss it will be either a long cane (the type normally associated with the blind where you tap the ground in front of you) or a guide cane, which is shorter and held at an angle in front of you to detect any obstacles.

Your local or national blind charity organisations will be able to help you, probably for free and also supply training.

You could ask any coworkers who live near you if they can give you a lift to work until you sort out alternate arrangements.

>I'm terrified. I am not thinking clearly.

This is perfectly normal after such a huge life changing event, I was the same when it happened to me. The important thing to remember is that you will learn to adapt and there's no reason you can't enjoy life again.

/u/-shacklebolt- is right when he/she says

>I promise that when you get the help you need and start to rebuild your confidence, it gets much easier.

I was in a complete mess the first few weeks but the brain is amazingly resilient organ and new skills you pick up will quickly become second nature.

This sub is primarily here for support so talk/question as much as you want.

If you need/want to talk to someone who has been in a similar situation with a similar condition you're more than welcome to PM me.

It WILL get better!

>I am talking with a counselor, but I'm sinking into a very deep depression. I'm terrified. I am not thinking clearly.

For about the first six months, I was suicidal. I know exactly what you are going through. I remember the day so clearly when I could not longer pick up a book and read it and I wanted to die. I went to bed and cried for days.

It wasn't until I got plugged into my local center, that I started to feel better. They had group support meetings and activities, all with people who are going through the exact same thing. Right now, you feel alone and I get that. You aren't, I assure you.

And for your mobility and orientation training, they usually come to *you* first, because you need to know how to get around your own neighborhood and it's already familiar. It's important for you to learn to get around and stay safe.

> I don't know how I will get groceries or meds or get to work. I am afraid to be a burden to friends and am already lonely because of the isolation of not being able to get out.

A lot of municipal rapid transit systems have travel training that costs nothing to you and will make you more secure with accessing rapid transit systems. Usually they give you free passes for a long period afterwards, as well.

>I am concerned about losing my job.

This is less of a worry for you than it should be. There are laws about that kind of thing. As long as your job is a job where reasonable accommodations can be made so that you can adapt, most companies would be terrified to fire someone for that.

Contact your State Department of Rehabilition, right away. That is your entry point to *all* of the services. If you call, they will have regular enrollment days and they will fill out the forms for you. You don't need to worry about anything when you get into the office, they will take good care of you.

Contact your local blindness support center, they will likely start your mobility (cane) training right away. Orientation and mobility are your two first and biggest challenges. Once you master those things, it will raise your confidence level, I know it did for me.

You are going to get a backpack and carry home your meds. I bought a draggy grocery basket and I wheel my groceries home now from the closest store or take it on the bus if I have to go further afield. They taught me how to clean blind. They taught me how to handle my money and gave me apps to help out with things, like matching up what I am going to wear which doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is). I am now volunteering to teach cooking blind.

It took me a while, but I slogged through it. I got apps to help me make everything on my computer bigger and got a bigger monitor. I had to learn to use an iPhone to use blind square. I learned basic braille.

The best thing about the training at the blind center, was that a lot of it was done by either blind or legally blind trainers. They really inspired me and I realized that there wasn't anything I could not eventually master.

I started losing my vision right before Christmas almost 4 years ago. It's been eye opening, if you will pardon the pun.

If you need any encouragement or support, please, feel free to PM me. There is nothing like someone that has been through it for you to know that you are not alone.

Your husband is a POS!