Lin gave me a preview of the page Nancy submitted as a guest writer. I am so glad Nancy took our invitation! Hoping that more of you do the same. [click here for Nancy’s page.]
Now, we all know I am a little ‘different’. Might as well embrace it. My immediate supervisor at school loves to tell me “You are such a psychologist!” She’s telling me I’m weird; right?
Anyway, even though I am not normal, I see parallels between Nancy’s experiences, my experiences and maybe even your experiences, too.
We are all “of a certain age”. At 64, I think of myself as a youngster with AMD but Lin tells me new Facebook members keep getting younger. What the hey is happening there?!?!? Anyway, this is not a disease of the young.
Most of us had parents or relatives with AMD. Nancy worried about developing it herself. I never did but Daddy was into his 80s when he lost his sight and his condition was never named for me. Since relatives were pretty few and far between on my father’s side, he was a sample of one for me. I never gave a thought to it being hereditary. Oops. Maybe you were not so obtuse and worried like Nancy.
Both Nancy and I have had the anxiety of waiting for things to go to hell in a proverbial handbag. One of the problems with a slowly developing condition is it lulls you into complacency and the next thing you know WHAM! No longer so complacent.
Many of us are facing limitations. These are limitations we don’t like and don’t want. Limitations that hit right at our independence and threaten who we are and how we interact with our worlds.
Then there are the attempts to combat this stuff. I went research and science. Fits me. Nancy went nutrition. Me? Not so much. Even though my ‘little’ nephew – 6’5” and possibly still growing – assures me food is the most important drug you can put in your body, I am not going there.
And in keeping with the season I just had a really excellent piece of pumpkin spice cake. What? Don’t give me grief; it was orange! Antioxidant color; right?
Back on track – but it was yummy cake! – we are all looking for answers. We are all hoping for the miracle cure. Is it coming? I truly believe so. Just don’t expect it by next Tuesday. In the age of great medical breakthroughs, you would think our little problem would be easy but it’s not. It is a frustration we all feel.
Then…the elephant in the room: depression. We have talked about it before and will talk about it again. We have all felt it. Some of us have the resources to help us bounce back. Some of us need help finding those resources. Lin said something about citing pages, etc. about depression so I am sure several of these words will be blue soon. [click here for an article about depression in people with AMD.]
What I learned from Nancy’s page? We are all having similar experiences. Nancy, probably you, me, too. So maybe I’m not so weird after all? Maybe?
written October 2nd, 2017