It Goes On

The great American poet Robert Frost made the following remark in an interview in 1954 with a Mr. Ray Joseph of The Cincinnati Enquirer: “In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on.”

Hearing that quote the other day really was eye-opening (pun intended?). Learning is a constant process, I believe. I find as I am getting older and older, life lessons are still an ongoing process. No matter what it is that we are learning, it is a part of the many stages of growing older.

The unknown life path of myopic macular degeneration

When I first learned of my myopic macular degeneration, I had no idea what this was all about. Against my better judgment, I did the Google search and quickly realized that there was more to this diagnosis than I first believed.

The unknown path that I was beginning was filled with an overwhelming amount of unknowns and uncertainties. I quickly stepped away from “Dr. Google” and took my fears and questions to the retinal specialist.

New lessons learned about the signs of MMD

The information pertaining to myopic macular degeneration was at first mind-boggling and confusing to one who had never heard of such a diagnosis. Hearing about the oblong shape of my eye that is affected — which is apparently prevalent in severely myopic people — and how the appearance of large eyes is indicative of this sort of degeneration was clearly news to me.

Seeing the results of those early scans — and being told that the stretching of the eye leads to these kinds of bleeds and ultimately gave me the signal that something was not right — was all part of a new lesson learned.

My experience of crazy wavy door frames and smudgy views was a sign that things were amiss. The above-mentioned bleeds were wreaking havoc on my vision and needed to be dealt with immediately.

I still hold my breath at rechecks

Since 2019, from when I was first diagnosed to the present date, I have been under the care of dedicated retinal specialists who know their job. Fortunately, after a time span of 18-20 months where I was given injections, the bleeds were stopped.

I still hold my breath when I go in for rechecks, now at an amazing 6-month interval. I have successfully avoided injections since the spring of 2021. The unfortunate part is there was damage done that cannot be undone. I will always have that oblong kaleidoscopic blur, and there is always a muted sense of color. I have also relinquished any nighttime driving to my better half.

Life goes on, one step at a time

No matter what a person goes through, be it this annoying degeneration or other physical maladies, there is ultimately a lesson for us all. I truly believe Mr. Frost said it best when he said that the cumulation of one's life lesson can be summed up simply by remembering, “It goes on.”

Taking one step at a time, no matter how guarded those steps may be, is moving forward. I firmly intend to keep making those moves in my life.