Pamela’s story

Pamela Zane Keys and Warwick Keys at Macular Degeneration NZ’s Whanganui public seminar on the 14th November 2020.

Living with Macular Degeneration

It came as a shock to Pamela Zane Keys to learn that she had macular degeneration. Unlike most people who have macular degeneration, it happened suddenly. It happened about three years ago and she has “kind of got used to it”.

Her mother had very poor eyesight and Pamela Zane Keys would help her by reading signs (there is a strong genetic connection).

But her eyesight was good, needing glasses only when on the computer. It started as ‘blob’ on the page when she was reading and after going from the optometrists to the doctor to the hospital, she was faced with reality. It can’t be cured but it can be slowed and even stopped for a time. However, this requires regular injections into the eye. In Pamela Zane Key’s case it is every six weeks for one eye and eight weeks for the other. Not recommended for the squeamish and journalists, but she says, “You are given a local anesthetic and it just feels like pressing on a bruise”.

Pamela Zane Keys is full of praise for the treatment and service she gets at our hospital (Whanganui).

“They are professional, yet caring and very sensitive.” She got over her nervousness about the treatment and now “honestly all I feel now is a depth of gratitude.”

The problem is her central vision which be a blur but she explains, “The brain fills in that space and I have very good peripheral vision. I do have good and bad days though. I can still drive although I really concentrate on making my eyes work.”

One side effect is, it has affected her sense of colour. “I will see blue when it is green. Fortunately, I know where the green/blue traffic light is.”