Reflections From the Waiting Room

It has been 6 months since I have been here, "here" being the retina specialist's office. It was time for a 6-month checkup. I can honestly say I have not missed this place.

Now, do not get me wrong, I truly appreciate this place. The expertise, the knowledge, the medical marvels that prevail here are greatly appreciated. I often tell the doctor, "Don’t take this personally, but I do not want to see you any sooner than I have to." They get it.

My 6-month checkup appointment

The 6-month hiatus from coming here honestly flew by. My daily thoughts of myopic macular degeneration were very much diminished. Adapting to an altered vision has become second nature. A slight tilt of the head, an adjusted angle of the light, and what I wanted to see was clearly (well, almost) seen. Adding additional lights and raising window blinds up and down all day is all in a day's work.

On this particular day of my checkup, I checked into the retina specialist's office with my driver-husband in tow. We arrived with 10 minutes to spare. My insurance and ID were provided and my coverage confirmed all in no time at all. We were then kindly directed to where we were to wait for my name to be called.

A packed waiting area

We turned to head into the area where the waiting room was located. There we were met with a room filled to the brim with other like-minded patients. Most every available seat was taken. This truly gave me a moment to pause. SO MANY PEOPLE. Life post-COVID allows the assembly of these crows to gather.

I honestly hesitated before we found our seats in a semi-secluded spot to wait our turn. Surprisingly, for the amount of people waiting, my actual wait was not long.

My internal dialogue during vision tests

Thus began the same scenario that I have experienced since 2019 when I was diagnosed with this malady of myopic macular degeneration: the typical vision checks of reading the charts with 1 eye and then the other. For myself, I am constantly wondering in my mind, 'Is this better than the last time or worse? Do things look the same? Has there been a change that I just didn’t notice?' At times, this internal dialogue with myself can drive me crazy. But it is what it is.

Grateful for a successful visit

The optical coherence tomography (OCT) scan is taken, revealing the true picture of what is going on in these eyeballs of mine. Again, I ponder, what do they see? Anything new brewing in there? Or has everything stayed the same?

The dilation of the eyes is next, creating that obscure view of my world but opening up the window of the eyes themselves. The actual doctor exam is short-lived with a quick glance at the scan. Assurance is given that everything has stayed stable. With a "See you in 6 months," another appointment is over.

This visit has been a successful one, one that I am grateful for. It will be June of 2024 before I need to revisit this place (God willing), and that feels pretty good.