David’s story
(Macular Degeneration can move swiftly)
by Alison MacArthur Grant, Feb 2020
I was always fascinated with David’s eyes; I had looked into them for nearly 60 years.
They were lovely soft, dark brown smiling eyes, and the pupils in both eyes were a different size. He didn’t need to wear glasses, as one eye was long sighted and the other short sighted. He could read anything without glasses.
The saga of his eyes began in 2000 when he was diagnosed with Polymyalgia. He had to take big doses of drugs to counteract the polymyalgia; that led to Type 2 diabetes, about four years later. He got into the ‘system’ on our local doctor’s advice and had regular monitoring through the DHB.
All was well until 22 November 2017 when suddenly it was found he had Macular Degeneration in his right eye. David had visited his optometrist regularly, and exactly a week before he was thrilled to know everything was all right. His older sister by 4 years had wet Macular Degeneration, but had left checking too late, and became legally blind as a result. Could it run in the family? His next sister, two years older, has since been diagnosed with dry Macular Degeneration. We don’t know about his parents, as these checks were not available to them all those years ago. A younger brother is certainly keeping his eyes checked.
So it all happened within a week. We went straight away to his optometrist who confirmed that a week previously he had been clear. She phoned the Greenlane Eye Clinic and we saw a specialist the next day, when David had his first injection in the right eye. I marveled at the skill of the nurses who carried out the injections, which took only a few seconds following preparation. Thereafter, he had an injection every month, although after the first three, the doctor left it for two months. In that time the right eye did deteriorate, so it was back to monthly injections.
Overall, David had 13 injections until January 2019 when the left eye showed signs of deteriorating, although the right one was doing well. That meant two injections that day, one in each eye. By then, he had been diagnosed with Mesothelioma (asbestosis), a result of his exposure to asbestos while a building apprentice in the late 1950s; David passed on in June 2019.
We were both thankful that there was technology to help in this area. His eyes were so important to him; he spent over 30 years writing numerous studies, books and sermons, plus creating beautiful native wooden clocks, big and small, making furniture and building our homes, and driving thousands of miles in his working life. He had just spent six years researching a history of the area he grew up in – We Gathered Here, A History of Matakana, and the book launch was two days after his first injection.
