With these weekly columns, I may come across as a vibrant, active senior with perfect health.
Well, I think I am quite healthy for an 83-year-old, though my wife thinks I complain too much. I don’t have diabetes, heart trouble, disabling cancer or severe mobility problems. I do have one issue: macular degeneration. I thought I would write about it for others who may face the same problem.
In 2018, I took a train for four hours back to Washington to complain to my ophthalmologist about worsening vision. “Just wash your face,” was his response. Huh? He meant to clean the crusting around the eyes caused by blepharitis, which I already knew about. He didn’t examine my retinas because the retina machine was broken.
Several months later, back in Arlington, I went to see him again and this time the machine was fixed. There was a long pause after the exam. “Go right now to the retina doctor two blocks away,” he said. It was 4 p.m. and the retina doctor’s staff had gone home but he sent me anyway.
Wet macular degeneration in my left eye had worsened the vision. There was a 50-50 chance it would also affect my right eye. A few months later, it did.
I got used to the eye injections every month or two. They aren’t as bad as they sound. They don’t hurt after numbing drops. It’s like being at the dentist: I can stand a few minutes of discomfort.
Macular degeneration affects your central vision, the small part that focuses on objects. In the unlikely event my central vision disappeared completely, I would still have decent peripheral vision. Many people’s experiences are different, though.
The condition makes reading difficult for me. I no longer look over print books or magazines or newspapers. I get everything enlarged on an iPad. Or I listen to an audiobook. TV is not a problem.
Technology to get around this is amazing. I use a magnifier app on my phone to look at tiny directions. With the camera on my iPad, I can photograph recipes and read them while cooking. The GPS and self-driving feature on my car find the freeway exit before I can read the sign. (I did pass a recent DMV driving test.)
The worst thing is reading piano music or choral scores. Prism glasses can magnify but are of little help. I have been scanning scores onto my iPad for enlargement On the piano, I play mostly chords anyway and write them in with a magic marker on top of enlarged lyrics that I print out. When I write on my iPad keyboard, I have trouble catching typos when I read an article again. For this column, I have three friends look for them.
The retina doctor at Duke Eye Center says the macular degeneration has stabilized, but it feels like my vision is getting worse. Even stable, the retina ages like the rest of me.
Can it be prevented? I wish I had paid attention when I found out that my father had macular degeneration. I suspect that it contributed to his dementia. If you are diagnosed with early macular degeneration, lutein (found in over-the counter Areds2) is supposed to provide a 25% chance of keeping it from getting worse. Good diet and avoiding bright sunlight are supposed to help.
I’m still grateful I don’t have much else wrong. On birthdays, my favorite song is “I’m Still Here!”
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