by Shirrel
(San Jose, Ca USA)
I first realized something was wrong on the tennis court. I hadn't played recently, and I had trouble seeing where the ball was landing. After playing tennis for thirty years (decently)and then all of a sudden unable to hit it............well, it was definitely disturbing. I made an appointment with a well known peninsula ophthalmologist, and he diagnosed me immediately with macular degeneration. It turned out to be the wet variety.
I was sent to a peninsula eye clinic, and was given my first injection. That was 10 years ago.
It has been scary. But for some unknown reason, my AMD has progressed slowly. After about 8 years I had to stop driving at night which put a real damper on my personal life as I am a ballroom dancer. This has been a major part of my social life, and physical exercise for 25 years. I had to start dancing at daytime venues or travel with friends.
Now that the pandemic is in full swing, I have been in more or less lockdown as my age makes me more vulnerable to the coronavirus. I order all that I need online, and have it delivered to my residence.
I also have Glaucoma, and take eye drops to control the pressure. It's important that I maintain this as it may at some point be my only vision. I feel fortunate in that I have no other conditions to deal with. I feel that this may be one reason why it has progressed so slowly. The rest of my body is relatively healthy. I am now 81, and funny as it may seem, I consider myself lucky. It could have been worse.
Shirrel
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