Beverly Dame

"Well, this sucks." To be honest, this was my reaction to first hearing that I now have geographic atrophy (GA), the advanced stage of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), in...

It first appeared weeks before my diagnosis with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). I’d see it when I would get up in the middle of the night, never during the...

One of the joys of retirement is staying in PJs until breakfast. On injection day, I get up early (early for me) because I like to have my appointment as...

"My writing well has run dry," I moaned to my husband. "After almost 5 years into living with my diagnosis of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and 4 years writing...

"Hey, I need you to read the directions on this package," I said as I walked over to my husband. He was reading. I was cooking dinner. I’m lucky to...

Moving is _____. Fill in the blank with any word that equals awful or hard work or royal pain. Two days before Thanksgiving in 2023, I was in bed with...

"What’s THAT for?" my husband asked. He was looking at an ad on the television. Bright, happy people were biking along a beach. The unpronounceable name of a drug was...

Is there a typical day in my life living with AMD? Uh, only occasionally. And only if we’re lucky. For the past 2 months, most of my time has been...

This fall, I decided that I needed to improve my workspace. I read about a gizmo to hold my laptop. It adjusts so that the screen can be at eye...

Yes, 4 years and 1 month to be exact. I couldn’t remember the exact date, so I got my medical records from my first retina specialist: July 15, 2019, one...

I grew up without a car. My mother was on her own, working in a garment factory, not making much money and raising a child. We relied on the bus...

“Would you rather lose your sight or hearing?” is how it would start. It was usually late at night, in someone’s dorm room, when we should have been working on...

Confession time. I buy and eat processed foods. You know, the easy-to-microwave stuff that puts dinner on the table in 5 minutes. I buy them because I know there will...

Living with my wet AMD (age-related macular degeneration) has been a time of adjustment and acceptance. The shock of the diagnosis. The acceptance of the reality of the injections. The...

Pre- and post-injection routine? It has taken me about 3 years, 2 doctors, and 1 terrific husband to develop a skill set that makes my visit for an eye injection...

There are days and then there are days. Those of us with wet macular degeneration (AMD) approach the day of our injection with very mixed emotions. I, personally, am both...

You are not alone. This is the first thing to know about your AMD (age-related macular degeneration). You are one of 11 million men and women in the United States...

A person wearing sunglasses and using a white cane. If we are honest with ourselves, that is the first image of someone with vision loss that would have come to...

Yes, disease fatigue. I think that I just made up a new condition. Just did a search and it wasn’t there. Chronic fatigue syndrome? Of course, and a bunch of...

“Jack Sprat could eat no fat,” my husband says as I turn up the light over our dining table. “And his wife could eat no lean,” I reply. It has...