Having a doctor you like and trust is mighty important. If you can get a referral from a family member or friend, it is beneficial. I’ve been fortunate to have three doctors that have been real professionals and good guys as well. They are, Clifton Beasley of Fort Worth Retina Specialists, Lon Poliner of San Diego Retina Specialists, and Nikolas London of San Diego Retina Specialists. They have all been top guys and have done a lot for me.

The biggest thing in the life of a person with low vision is their support group. I am so lucky to have my wife, Pat, and my daughter, Terri, looking out for me. They see to it that I am well cared for and safe. The countless things they do for me do more than make life tolerable; they make life good.

I’ll give some examples. One of the simplest things that keeps me from falling and busting my head is to tell me when I have a shoelace untied.

Eating a meal seems simple, but since I can’t see colors or details, I have no idea what is on my plate. They solve this when placing a plate before me by saying something like “Green beans at 12 o’clock, mashed potatoes at 3 o’clock, meat at 6 o’clock, and cottage cheese at 9 o’clock.

I haven’t learned to cut meat. Often, the meat ends up lying uncut on the table. Pat or Terri cut the meat for me before placing the plate on the table.

Another great aid is that they put things in the same place. This really helps when getting clothes or getting stuff from the refrigerator.

Just being in the same room with Pat or Terri can keep me out of trouble for they can spot stuff before it happens. They notice when I am about to bump into a glass of water, or I have a shoelace untied. They continually keep me from making a mess. Of course, they do a lot of good stuff like reading me the mail and keeping me current on what’s happening.

Along with all the things they do to keep me functioning, I can always hear Pat and Terri talking and laughing and that keeps the house feeling warm and happy.

David Thomas

8/3/2023

There is a lot of stuff available to help combat low vision problems. I’ll list what I am using. Veterans can contact the Low Vision Department of their local VA and be provided with the video magnifiers noted below:

Cataract Sunglasses- (Available on Amazon. I just searched “cataract sunglasses, and several options came up.) The glare of the sun was more than I could stand when I went outside. Regular sunglasses didn’t help much. I remembered that after cataract surgery, I was given some inexpensive plastic sunglasses that really helped. They had black lenses and then wide bowls that kept the sun from coming in from the side. These glasses are available from Amazon or Walmart. I think they are about ten bucks.

Pocket Magnifier- (I found it on Amazon by searching “pocket magnifiers with 10X magnification.) Being a diabetic, I wear a 24 hour Dexcom Glucose Monitor. Blood glucose numbers are registered on a small meter carried in your pocket. Naturally, I couldn’t read the numbers. A small pocket magnifier takes care of that problem.

Ruby XL HD Video Magnifier by Freedom Scientific- This is a tool I use all day. It has a 5 inch screen, and is about the size of a cell phone. Pressing a button allows you to select magnification from 2x to 14x. Another button allows you to select different font and background colors. This device is lightweight and can be help up to the computer screen without tiring and is simpler to use than changing font and display sizes on the computer.

Explorer 8, a video amplifier by Enhanced Vision- This unit is much like the Ruby but has an 8 inch screen. It has great resolution so is good for reading faded documents.

Merlin Ultra, a video magnifier by Enhanced Vision- This amazing unit has a 24 inch screen and an X-Y table. I use this unit many times during the day for both reading and writing. There is plenty of room to get your hand under the camera, and you can see your hand, the tip of the pen, and the paper well enough to do a decent job of writing. There is an optional switch available from Enhanced Vision that allows you to switch back and forth between the Merlin and your computer so you can flip from screen to screen when working on a project. All three of the magnifiers listed have the same basic function and are quite usable.

LyriQ text reader by Zyrlo- This is a magic device. You can lay a printed page on it’s platen, and it will read it to you. You can select a male voice or a female voice. And it can read pages printed in English or Spanish. You can control how fast they talk and how loud they talk. LyriQ has a limited memory, so you can save items if you wish.

Lined tablets are available that have heavy black lines about ½ inch apart. People with poor vision have trouble writing in straight lines, so the tablet helps a lot.

Dave Thomas

7/20/2023

When I first showed signs of macular degeneration (MD), I was referred to a retina specialist. At that time, the fix for MD was a laser treatment to cauterize the blood vessels. I had several laser fixes during the first couple of years. Medications were being developed for injections directly into the eyeballs. When the first medication became available (I can’t recall the name), I got those injections when required.

In a few months, a new medication called Eylea became available. I was told it was developed to fight cancer by starving the cancer cells of blood. Some research group thought it might work for MD as well, and they were proven to be correct. I’ve had Eylea injections in both eyes every 6 to 8 weeks for some time now with great success. So far as I know, I’ve had no bleeding at all.

I can never get enough light. It’s always twilight. Dr. London suggested that eyelid surgery would open my eyes enough to improve my vision somewhat. He was correct. The surgery has given me more light and has helped. With the eyelids open further, I’m now prone to dry eyes and must use eye drops. I’ve never used eye drops and am not very good at it. I’ve begun to refer to eye drops as “face wash” as I get the stuff all over me.

There is a part of the eye that hardens as you age and causes a condition known as Geographical Atrophication or GA. A new medication has become available to combat this- Sifovre. It also requires injections in both eyes. Some patients have declared that it has improved their vision. I hope I’ll be able to say the same.

Dave Thomas

7/20/2023

I have the wet type of macular degeneration. That means that my eyes bleed. The retinas decide that they need more blood vessels, so they just go ahead and grow them. The blood vessels leak blood and ruin your center of vision and cause blindness. I’m legally blind. In basic terms, that means I can’t read the chart on the doctor’s wall. Don’t worry. It’s not all gloom and doom. I can see well enough to walk around in the house without bumping into anything.

I thought I would write down some of the things we have learned and share them with anyone who might be starting out with this problem. There is a lot of help out there, but it takes a while to find it. 

With me, the disease took 2 or 3 years to develop. I knew there was something wrong but didn’t know what. I had cataract surgery on one eye, and a couple of years later after I had learned of the macular degeneration, I had cataract surgery on the other eye.

As you lose your vision, you learn to depend more on your other senses and you start looking for aids. When my vision was at its worst, I depended on memory and muscle memory. If I set my coffee mug down, my body knew just where to reach for it. Touch was important, as was counting steps from one place to another.

As my vision improved a little, I noticed the way light was reflected from some objects. It made it easier to find my coffee cup or water glass. A big step forward was made when I realized that light was being reflected off my pills. I keep my pills in one of those plastic 7-day pill boxes. I would open the little lid and shake the pills into the palm of my hand. Picking up the pills from my palm was sometimes difficult because I couldn’t see them, so I would chase them around my palm until I sometimes knocked them on the floor. One day, the ceiling lights were on, and I saw the light being reflected from each pill. Duh! Now, I always use the ceiling lights.

A sharpened sense of touch became important. I use a Phillips Norelco electric razor. That’s the one that’s got 3 heads. The shaving heads got dull, and my daughter, Terri, ordered replacements. I couldn’t see well enough to change them out. Fortunately, my son-in-law, Steve is pretty good at that kind of stuff, and he changed them for me. The next time the heads got dull, I figured I should try changing them myself.  Each shaving head consists of a flange and a cutting blade, so all together, you have 6 pieces plus the retainer to deal with. To give me a contrasting workplace, I put an 8 ½ x 11 inch sheet of printer paper on my desk and placed the parts on it. The razor is a marvel of simple mechanical design, and I expected to conquer the job immediately. Every time I got most or all of the pieces loaded in, while putting the retainer in place, I would bump the thing and scatter the parts all over the desk. A couple of times, I ended up with parts on the floor. Since I couldn’t see, I had to lie down on the floor and rub my hands on the carpet until I found the pieces. That first job took me 2 hours to complete. Having done the job several times now, my record time was 7 minutes when everything just fell into place perfectly, and I didn’t bump it and screw it up. My average time now is probably 15 to 17 minutes.

That’s enough for now. Later, I’ll tell you about the medications and some of the low vision equipment available.

Dave Thomas

6/29/2023

This is gay pride month. I understand that a Gay Pride flag will be flying in front of one of the county administration buildings alongside Old Glory and the California state flag. This doesn’t seem proper. The American flag and the California state flag are for all the people. I don’t feel that a flag representing such a small segment of the population should be displayed with the American flag and our state flag.

I have no quarrel with gay people. There have always been gay people.  There will always be gay people. Leave them alone and let them enjoy happy and productive lives. They don’t need to display a flag just because they were born with different characteristics than the rest of us.

If there is a lighter side to this, it is that we will be seeing flags from other groups born with characteristics outside the norm. We may be seeing flags for left-handed folks, bald headed men, freckles, red heads, and on and on. Let’s hope not.

Dave Thomas

6/22/2023

Every week some NRA sponsored Republican starts blowing smoke at us by saying that the active shooter problem is a mental health issue. Hey, Ace, we know it is a mental health issue. We are also smart enough to       know it is a long-term issue.  Why don’t we talk about something that will cut the fatality numbers and could   be done in a week?

Yes, I’m talking about banning assault rifles, adding background checks, using Red Flag Alerts, and raising the gun buying age to 21.

You brilliant people are always telling us what we Americans want, but you haven’t a clue. What we Americans want is for our fellow citizens, adults, and little kids, to not be shot and murdered.

Dave Thomas

6/15/23

I don’t care if you don’t go to church. I don’t care if you don’t believe in God.  I do feel that you should consider that there might be something out there larger than yourself. Ask yourself a couple of questions. Who designed the human body? Who figured out how to make butterflies?

Dave Thomas

6/6/2023

We went to Outback for dinner. I kept an eye out for kangaroos but didn’t see any. I thought I saw a duck-billed platypus. It turned out to be a woman who had that Botox thing done to her lips.

Dave Thomas

May 24, 2023

I was thinking of the Republicans and Trumpsters. That may be redundant as they seem to be one and the same. I was wondering how low that scumbag Trump has to go before they abandon him. Let’s list some of the things that are attributed to him by others:

Traitor

Coward! He knew the Secret Service wouldn’t let him go to the Capitol building on January 6, so he sent his henchmen to take the blame in case the coup attempt failed.

Bully

Adulturer

Liable for sex crimes

Alleged to have raped more than 20 women

Racist

White supremacist

Tax cheater

Trump followers are as disgusting as he is if they find these things acceptable.

Dave Thomas

May 24, 2023

Happy Mother’s Day to Pat!

My wife, Pat, turns 79 today. Two years ago, I sent the kids and grand-kids a little story about the picture she had taken for her 50th birthday. It is my favorite picture so I’m posting it to the blog today.
Dave Thomas  
November 29, 2016

My wife, your Mom/Grandma/Great-Grandma, Pat, has always been self-conscious about having her picture taken and usually dodges the issue. However, as she approached her 50^th birthday she thought it might be a good idea to have her portrait done. Being a Sears employee, she made an appointment with the Sears Portrait Studio. She showed up at the proper time but had to wait because the little boy who was scheduled ahead of her wasn’t cooperating. He was unhappy, wouldn’t smile, and just flat didn’t want to be there. His Mother was doing her best to encourage him but it wasn’t helping. The photographer, an old hand at dealing with kids, reached into a cabinet behind him and came up with some sock puppets. He put one on his hand and started talking in a goofy voice and quickly had the kid laughing. The photographer soon had all the shots he needed of the boy and it was Pat’s turn. The photographer got Pat situated with a proper background, made suggestions for posing, and was ready to take pictures. However, Pat went into her normal tight-jawed, picture-taking mood and wouldn’t smile. The guy kept talking to her and trying to get her to lighten up but it wasn’t working. Finally, in desperation, he asked “how do I get you to loosen up and smile?” She says ”Well, you might try treating me like that little boy.” So, the photographer puts on the sock puppet and starts talking in a goofy voice and all of a sudden Pat is laughing! The guy starts snapping pictures and gets some fantastic shots. He captures the Pat I know so well with laughing eyes, maximum dimples, and full of fun. The picture I’m including is the best and most real picture you will ever see of her. You might want to save it.

Dave/Dad/Grandpa Thomas
October 9, 2014