Living a Full Life With Macular Degeneration

Reading has always been a passion of mine. My recent passion has been mysteries, especially murder mysteries. With each new book, I try to convince myself that, this time, I will solve the mystery. Invariably, I do not.

It is with the many twists and turns of these books I find that yet again, I have not solved the mystery. This does not stop me from trying, though.

'Just to be alive is a grand thing'

I am grateful that I can find these sleuth stories on Kindle. Life with myopic macular degeneration has introduced E-books to me, thankfully. I do not feel as though I am missing out on anything.

Recently, I was caught by a quote from a famous mystery writer, Agatha Christie. In her successful life, she has written 77 novels, 66 of those being murder mysteries. She also wrote 14 short stories. Pondering the particularly intriguing stories written by Ms. Christie, I am surprised how she was able to produce so many successful novels. I think this quote appropriately sums up her life motivations: "I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, wracked with sorrow; but through it all, I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing."

I almost feel like she is talking directly to me.

I was consumed with sorrow after my diagnosis

When I learned of my diagnosis of myopic macular degeneration in 2019, I felt a wide array of all of these emotions. I most definitely felt the extreme depth of despair. There was a major feeling of myself dropping down to the lowest of low. I was almost consumed with so much sorrow and misery.

The feeling of not knowing what my future would actually be like brought on an extremely soul-consuming depression. I knew I needed to work through this, and thankfully, I have.

Making the most of extended time between injections

Those first few months were definitely a challenge. I would go to the retina specialist every 6 weeks, then every 8 weeks. Each time, I was grateful that the "good eye" was holding its own and the injections I received were needed to do what needed to be done.

Eventually, I did not need the injections, and the time between my rechecks was extended.

Fortunately, I am presently going in for my rechecks every 6 months. In the meantime, I do my daily rechecks on my Amsler grid just to make sure I am still holding my own.

I intend to keep on living a full life

It is almost as if Ms. Christie was speaking to me directly all those years ago. I heard the words she spoke at the end of that quote: "I knew quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing."

Yes, living is a grand thing, and I fully intend to keep on living a full life. I am thankful to be living in the times that we are, and that the medical science of our day has come a long way, and that either way I will continue to live a full life — no matter how I "see" it.