Alright genius friends...
My Grandpa has recently taken up residency at Vonderlieth Living Center in Mt.Pulaski, Il, as the result of some recent health issues. On top of this, Grandpa is reaching a point in his age where his eyesight has deteriorated signifigantly due to macular degeneration.
Here is where you, my incredibly intelligent, worldly, well-read friends come in... We are looking for ideas to help him see better, and therefore increase his quality of life.
As my Dad stated in a recent email to the family:
"Apparently, it's not just a matter of magnification, it's also a matter of ease of use. For example, Dad finds it hard to use something that he has to hold in his hands while he's trying to also hold whatever he's wanting to look at. I just don't know what's available to make it easier to see things near and far (like the TV). " Meaning, giving him a magnifying glass to read with creates an obstacle he is unlikely to be interested in surmounting.
We would appreciate any tips, ideas or the name of someone good to contact regarding this.
Grandpa is gearing up for his 94th birthday this March!
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4 comments:
From what little I know about macular degeneration, the blindness is of the tunnel sort, not a general inability to see. So if he's looking at something, he can't see it, but he can see the things around it. As it progresses, the tunnel's diameter increases, so it eventually obstructs the entire field of vision. Bummer. My aunt has M.D., and my dad said something about a new treatment that she's trying and finding some success with, but it might depend on the stage of the M.D. (early, or "dry" M.D. is more treatable, and late or "wet" M.D. is more just haltable (it doesn't get better, but you can stop the worsening.)) I'm not too sure about the details. I have an email out to my dad to find out about the treatment, and to my aunt to see if she has any input. I wonder if better lighting in general helps? I'll check back with any info I get.
Kisses to your grandpa, good job being 94!
Jen
Actually, Grandpa is gearing up for his 95th birthday in March.
That was a nice comment from Jen.
Here's what my aunt Rosemary had to say about Maacular Degeneration:
"This is what I know. There are 2 kinds of MD..wet and dry. The dry is not
treatable. Wet can be slowed or arrested by some types of lasar (depending
on location,individual etc etc etc) and/or a drug called avastin. The drug is "off
label use" which means it is used to treat something else (rectal cancer) and
incidentally discovered it helps MD. It shrinks bloodvessels. Engorged and leaking
vessels is MD--causes a black tunnel in the vision. The lost vision is not restored-
just the progression halted--maybe temporary--maybe not. Might need more than
one treatment or treatments at regular intervals. The drug is expensive but
grandfather must be on Medicare and that has covered my treatments. I had two.
My left eye only is afftected and treatment has improved my vision (slightly). MD
patients have peripheral vision. The treatments changed my vision from black and
white to color...nice. That's all I know for sure. If grandfather has both eyes affected
chances are not good that his vision will improve. He probably also has cataracs and
having those removed might improve his vision.For now the news for MD is not great.
Grandfather should be seeing a vitreoRetinal doctor. Let me know how this goes
for him."
Also, I work at a bio-imaging lab at Caltech. The people there have amazing brains. One guy in our lab is developing a new method for scanning the retina to catch macular degeneration much much earlier. Current methods are very clumsy, invasive, tedious, and poor. As a result, it's not implemented regularly, and most MD cases aren't caught until the vision is significantly affected (and irreversible).
So his new imaging technique will help because it is not invasive, it's quick and accurate, so screening for MD will become part of a regular check-up. and it will be way-hay-hay more effective at catching MD before symptoms start, while it's still treatable.
Now, I realize this won't help grandpa, or my aunt. But I thought you all might appreciate knowing that some good people are working hard to make a difference in the future of macular degeneration.
Love you.
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