About a year ago, I noticed that I was not able to see the tops of letters of words in books I was reading, this had never happened to me. For an author and blogger and photographer, there were implications I really didn’t want to consider.

I went to my ophthalmologist, who sent me to a retinal eye specialist, who said there was swelling in the blood vessels, especially in my left eye. I began a series of treatments which included special drops, and then two rounds of laser surgery.

I started taking photos of my eyes, if you’re going to share a life, you have to share the life. The photo on the left was taken yesterday, the photo on the right was taken six months ago. The dots represent the vessels leaking, the shadow spots represent swelling.

The retina is on the left, I confess to being fascinated by these photos, they are strangely beautiful and also just strange. I never think  of my eye as looking like that. Eyes, like feet, are something I have always taken for granted. Until not.

The goal is to reduce or contain or eliminate the swelling and keep it away from the retina, When it gets too close, there is vision trouble (like the kind I had last year) or worse. Since the treatments, my vision is excellent and has remained steady.That is the good news. The bad news is that the swelling is still there.

You can see by the photos that the eye is better but not good enough.

A decade ago, I would have gone blind. Today, it’s different, they can control the swelling and sometimes eliminate it with laser surgery, or failing that, with monthly injections into the eye.

In October, I’m going for a third round of laser surgery, and if that doesn’t work completely, we’ll begin the regular injections, along with special eye drops.

The thing about getting older that I find so interesting is that I must come to see my body in a new and different way. What I eat or don’t eat becomes important. It needs to be maintained, and I also need to accept life and not lament it or whine about it.

That leads to old talk and old thinking, and old talk and old thinking are more lethal than most diseases. My doctor, Naomi Falk, loves the fact that i share these photos on my blog, she says I am the first patient that has ever done that, and she thinks it is both healthy and productive.

When I go for treatment, the staff pulls up the most colorful and clearest photos for me. It feels good to share things like this, I  feel like I have no secrets to protect.

So I’ll keep doing that, and thanks for existing.

Audio: My Retina