macular degeneration, macular, diagnosis Not a Total Loss – My Macular Degeneration Journey/Journal

Not a Total Loss

Hello. Sitting waiting to see the retinologist. I have a day of medical appointments. One is at a satellite office and the other is at the main hospital. Supposedly the hospital will provide connecting transportation. We shall see.

I had to ask to find out if this is a service they offer. If you have to go from building to building such as I am today, ask. They don’t advertise this sort of thing so we need to be proactive.

I realize most of you don’t play Panda Pop but if you do you know you can ‘win’ costumes for Mama Panda. I just won a costume and my Mama Panda now looks like a cross among the bride of Frankenstein, Tim Curry in Rocky Horror Picture Show and Sparkle Brite. Maybe a little Little Richard on the side. Bizarre.

Did any of you see Rocky Horror Picture Show in the theatre? Late 70s. They said “a toast” on the screen and you got pelted with flying slices of bread! Hard to believe that is now nostalgia.

What does this have to do with AMD? Nothing. Just some crazy observations to provide distractions.

If you don’t want to read this sort of nonsense, volunteer to write a page!

Sometime later: the van connection worked. I am now at the main hospital. Remember to ask about such services. No one volunteers the info.

Update on me: my left eye has surpassed my right eye in the race to ‘blindness’. The atrophy in my left eye is ‘advanced’.

Still won’t tell me what to expect, when it will stop. My retinologist said some people in their 90s have deterioration of the entire retina! Gulp! Not what I wanted to hear.

Some lady sat on the bench with me and apropos to very little asked me if “the shots” give me light sensitivity. Since I don’t get “shots” I had no clue. Although I just looked it up and it appears shots do cause some sensitivities. I assume photosensitivity is among them. Comments? [Lin/Linda: actually, photosensitivity is one symptom of macular degeneration. I can’t find anything that says injections can =cause= photosensitivity, but I have heard people say that an injection can make it worse.]

Again, please share. Otherwise I will just prattle on and you don’t want that!

Some more time later: I am now standing in the outpatient surgery waiting room, at the charging station. I have no business in outpatient surgery but the charging station is here! There is none in general internal medicine. Pooh.

These stations have connections for four or five different makes of devices including Apple products. Don’t be afraid to use them if you ‘run dry’ in your device. We have very legitimate uses for our devices and we need to keep them charged…even when the van comes early and you forget your own charger.

And I am adding one piece of legitimate AMD information before I close: According to Pubmed in a brand new October, 2017 release, hot off the presses as it were, dry AMD and prostate cancer are correlated. Prostate cancer can increase oxidative stress in the entire system. Androgen deprivation therapy helps to reduce the chances of AMD.

So, not a total loss of a page. Talk to you later!

written October 3rd, 2017

Next: Slogging Through Again

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