The Crotchety Old Man

Category: My Eyes

  • My Diabetic Doggy, Part 2

    Last week, I shared about finding out Toodles, my chihuahua, is diabetic. Dealing with a pet’s chronic disease can be expensive. I worried about the cost and what I would decide to do. My rapidly approaching retirement has changed the way I think about money. The difference between wants and needs is a lot clearer.…

  • In with the New

    Last week’s post was (hopefully) the final resting place for some of the baggage I lugged around last year. There’s more, but the load is much lighter than was the case thirty years ago. For this first post of 2016, rather than resolutions, I want to share my priorities for the year. Stay in the moment. Whatever’s happening…

  • My Feeble Eyes: Good News!

    In early June, I blogged about my rapidly deteriorating vision. Instead of only bothering me when I try to read, since February or March, I’ve had trouble seeing anything much smaller than a school bus. The sudden change has been both frightening and frustrating. Since 2010, I’ve been getting injections of various drugs (Avastin, Eylea…

  • My Feeble Eyes

    In 2010, the retina specialist discovered macular degeneration in my left eye. The macula is the central portion of the retina. It focuses central vision for reading, identifying colors, recognizing faces, and seeing fine details. Only about ten percent of cases — including mine — reach the advanced stage. With advanced macular degeneration, also known as wet macular degeneration,…

  • Search Me

    WordPress — the host for my web page — tracks the number of visitors to the site and page views, how visitors found me (Twitter now eclipses Facebook), and all kinds of interesting tidbits. I don’t pay much attention anymore, but every now and then I like to see what search terms have brought visitors…

  • It’s Working!

    Two years ago this month, I was diagnosed with macular degeneration. I have a mild case in my right eye and an advanced case in my left. To have the condition at my age is unusual. To have such an extreme case at such a young age is practically unheard of. For once, I’d prefer…

  • A Little Good News

    Finding out a few months ago that the miracle cure for macular degeneration wasn’t working for me hasn’t made going in for my monthly shot in the eye any easier. Until last month, at least things weren’t getting any worse. Struggling to see the big E at the top of the eye chart and then…

  • Going, Going, Nearly Gone

    I had another appointment with the retina specialist this morning. I go about once a month for an injection to treat the macular degeneration in my left eye. Both eyes have macular degeneration, but the case in my left eye is among the ten percent of cases so severe that it bleeds into the fluid…

  • My Day at the Doctor’s Office

    I had an appointment with the retina specialist today to get my third injection of Eylea, a new drug that worked wonders for people suffering from advanced macular degeneration in the trials. The swelling in my retina had been reduced by fifteen percent after the first injection. So I was anxious to find out how…

  • Results!

    My monthly appointments with the retina specialist roll around entirely too fast. Seems like I had one just last week. Hard to believe four weeks have passed since my last injection. If you’ve been following along, you know I have Age-related Macular Degeneration in both eyes. At 54, I’m young to have this condition–much less,…