Who Is Cowtown Pattie?

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I was Lillie Langtry in another life, and might have a crush on Calamity Jane.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Do You See What I See?

Those of you who kindly took time and possessed the good graces not to laugh too loudly at my podcast interview with John Lindner heard me discuss my great-grandfather, Amazhar Routh.

I have had to rely on distant cousins for any information on my Routh family line, so my knowledge about this long ago relative is sketchy at best. Family tree roots take on new meaning when an individual is confronted with certain medical conditions.

My grandmother, Amazhar's daughter, was legally blind by the age of 50 due to premature macular degeneration. My father developed the same disease at age 60 or so. My uncle, dad's youngest brother, was just recently diagnosed last year at age 65 and is legally blind. My grandmother's only sibling, a sister, has never had macular degeneration to my knowledge, but she has always had pretty bad eyesight and worn glasses for most of her adult years.

What this creates for me, of course, is the need to keep a close watch on my own vision health. I try to stay aware of any new treatments or early diagnosing techniques and I take a special array of vitamins purported to delay or perhaps even suppress the onset of early macular degeneration.

So imagine my great appreciation to learn that a friend is now part of a great website devoted to vision health - VisionAWARE.

The VisionAWARE site is easily navigated with a wealth of information. In the upper right hand corner there is a special bar with all sorts of ways to view the site, tailored fit to different vision needs. Play with it to see what each plus and minus produces, you might find that you are more comfortable with larger or smaller print than you normally implement on your own monitor.

This site
offers examples and explanations in layman terms about macular degeneration.

Way to go VISONeers!

1 comment:

Joared said...

Thanks for this link, Pattie. My mother had vision problems as a young women, then when in her forties developed a problem that intrigued the doctors from that point on. She became legally blind in her fifties and developed macular degeneration along the way.

I was constantly looking for ways to help her in a day when there were no big button phones, and a whole of other items available now that weren't then. Some mac. degen. in other family members, so think about myself, too, and can appreciate your concern for yourself. This vision problem and glaucoma are much more prevalent that many people realize. Regular vision checks are important, especially for glaucoma.