Just Another Story. More About My Mother #10.

Page 37.
     My mother allegedly had Scarlet Fever as a child. This left her with a weak heart.
     After having 5 children she developed a weight problem. She was heavy, but not extraordinarily fat. She was 5'5" and topped out at 190. That's big, but by 2014 standards, it's nothing.
     She always claimed to have a hearing issue, but could hear a box of Sara Lee being opened in the basement even if she was on the second floor.
     In 1975, while in the mental hospital after 3 suicide attempts, her retinas detached and she was then blind for the rest of her life. This was genetic and would possibly, but not definitely, have happened anyhow, regardless of what she put her body through with the drugs. She retained peripheral vision, though over time, that diminished as well. Nowadays, there's laser repair for this condition, if caught fast enough. But 1975 was years and years prior to treatment.
     Imagine being so depressed that you attempt suicide 3 times in 1 summer, only to have all those attempts fail, but you're left blind.