a bit of good news

[miriam_e]

Went to an eye specialist yesterday. He thinks that although it looks similar to macular degeneration, what I have is not that, but a viral infection in the retina of my right eye. He believes it will continue to worsen for a while as it runs its course, then quit leaving some permanent damage, but at least without blinding me. Best of all he doubts it will spread to the other eye. While this is not really great news, it is certainly way better than the prospect of going blind in the near future. Yay?

Comments

[sharpblonde.livejournal.com]

I hope it doesn't leave too much damage.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

:) Me too.

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

That is way better news than the original ones!
*Hugs*

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Yes, much better. :)
It's funny. I'd thought I had accepted the situation. (I'd thought: "Oh well, that's life. I've had a good run, with better vision than most people up till now. I'm interested in zillions of things. Blindness will just mean I'll do different things.") But the relief I felt on this latest news perhaps means that I hadn't really accepted it quite as well as I thought I had.

I'm glad I don't have to find out.

[patchworkkid.livejournal.com]

That's pretty awesome news, double-edged as it is. All the best for you, Miriam.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

:) Thanks
I'm supposed to go along for a followup appointment, but I'm really doubting I'll go. At $270 this appointment cost as much as a month's rent. I don't think anything can be done to help viral infections, generally. I might make an appointment with the local GP again (at least he bulk-bills so I can afford it) and see if any anti-viral drugs like zovirax or interferon might work. I think interferon costs thousands of dollars though.

This makes me think of something I keep harping on in my waffles: The rich tend not to care about the poor being blinded by illness because they aren't "deserving" of better medical help, but I imagine they would have problems with being exposed to an epidemic of it if it's allowed to flourish unchecked in the poor. I wonder if this might be the beginning of something like that. (A tad over dramatic I know, but I remember when I was living in Sydney and reading in the science journals of the first cases of AIDS, before it even had a name, and wondering what this weird new disease was. They generally thought it was a fairly innocuous curiosity. Even when it started to grow to the beginnings of an epidemic nobody was terribly worried as it appeared to hit only gay guys. There was a point near the beginning where it could have been brought under control, but the opportunity was thrown away.)

[adelaidepell.livejournal.com]

Yay, is right.

One of my best friends from high school, Marla,
has had macular degeneration since she was ten.
She had over a 4-point average all through
high school, and a dual major with a 4-point
all through college. She's a registrar at a
major university, now. She can just barely
see -- she uses a VisualTech which blows up
all the text she has to read to about six-
inch type or more.

She has a 2-year-old daughter now. Awww...

^_^

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

It is uplifting to hear of your friend Marla finding ways to cope like that. It justifies my feelings that life today is marvellous, even if we have temporary setbacks, this is an amazing age. Not so long ago blindness would put you on society's scrap heap.

One of my best friends is prone to schizophrenic breakdowns, but she is able to control it and live an almost completely normal life today. Just a few decades ago that might have been almost impossible. And the future for curing it is looking very bright.

With the leaps and bounds our technology is making I suspect that Marla will be able to see properly again soon. Two technologies hold out great hope: stem cells and remote stimulation of neurons. The first would possibly repair the retina. The second would possibly stimulate the nerves directly, taking their information from cameras either worn or embedded -- the visual version of the bionic ear which is such a terrific success these days.

How lucky we are to be living today, during the greatest renaissance of art and science in human history. But wait. :) It is nothing compared to what is coming just a decade from now. Great things are afoot.

Ask the Lions

[revbob2.livejournal.com]

The Lions Club -- one of those mostly-men's clubs like the Rotary and Optimists and so on are very big on visual health, and have run eyeglasses programs for poor kids for ages and ages. You might get lucky. http://www.lionsclubs.org.au/

I am so damn frustrated that I'm laid off and mostly broke myself when what would be a relatively small amount of money under normal circumstances, something I'd hardly miss, could make a good outcome for your problem a lot more certain. I'm sorry I've let you down.

Re: Ask the Lions

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the pointer Bob.

Heheheh You nut. :) You haven't let me down. :) I would have refused anyway. From what I've read nothing can really be done for viral infections. Also, I have a feeling the infection may be slowing down. In any case it wouldn't really matter much. I'd cope fine. It would simply take my life in a different direction.

When I was a kid I used to often walk around the house with my eyes closed or the lights off to see what would be like to be blind, and I would often block my ears or turn the TV's sound off and try to read lips to work out what people were saying. I've always been fascinated by loss of input and output on humans. This is why the heroine in a story I'm writing has cerebral palsy. It is also why I've always trained my dogs to respond to non-verbal commands -- hand signals.

Life is good. It would just be a different kind of good. :)