Anara Returns and Other Adventures

This evening we picked up Edie and Anara at the airport. They were returning from a family visit to Wilmington, North Carolina, with grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles. Edie was describing the crowded vehicles the family traveled in when she said, "And then Susan bought a flamingo." Visions of large pink birds sticking out of car windows sprang to my head. It was good to see the travelers back safe and sound and on the ground after their trip.

Earlier in the day, Ken and I drove in to Chris's house in time for me to ride my bike to my appointment at the Casey Eye Institute to follow up on my macular degeneration (AMD). Of course I looked up the route on Google maps and set out with some confidence that I could find my way to the bottom of the aerial tram that goes up to OHSU's campus on the hill. Chris rides this route to work pretty much every day.

It turned out not to be quite as straightforward as I imagined, but with some help from Chris and some passing pedestrians and bicyclists, I made it to the tram. Then I had to go to a nearby building to get a tram pass since I was a patient with an appointment. I took my bike on the tram, and at the top enlisted the help of a staff person on the tram to point me to a place to park my bike and get to the eye institute.

I made it to the fourth floor of Casey and checked in for my appointment with Dr. Christina Flaxel. Of course it was a "hurry up and wait" situation. I sat in the lobby and ate my sandwich as I waited for my name to be called. Finally a tech came to do the pre-screening of my vision. He also put three kinds of drops in my eyes to dilate them so Dr. Flaxel could get a good view.

When she looked at my retinas, she decided that I needed to have a fluorescein angiography and other photos of my retinas, so I went to the Ophthalmic Imaging servide. It was an interesting procedure. I had never realized that taking medical photos of the human eye could be a career! After lots of bright lights and camera clicks and contrast dye injection into my arm, I waited to see Dr. Flaxel again. She showed me very detailed images of the damage to my retinas caused by AMD.

Fortunately, the worst damage is to my left eye, which I do not use for central vision because of my amblyopia. My right eye has much less damage, and it has not yet progressed to my central vision. That's the good news. The bad news is that my vision has deteriorated, and I need new glasses. Possibly my cataracts may be part of the problem.

What I had not realized is that the fluorescein causes blurry vision that lasts up to twelve hours, so it's recommended that patients have someone to drive them home. Hmmm. Fortunately, Chris was able to leave work about the time I was done in the clinic, which was nearly 4:30 p.m. He came over to Casey and helped me with my bike and getting back down the tram. We had to walk a couple of miles and cross the Hawthorne Bridge to pick up Chris's bike that had been repaired earlier today. He took me to see the spectacular new The Collaborative Life Sciences Building & Skourtes Tower, which includes a library as well as lecture halls, study spaces, a simulation lab (to practice medical procedures in a simulated environment), a student lounge, a coffee shop and other facilities.

By the time we biked home, it was 6:00 p.m. Ken had a nice salad ready, and we heated up leftovers for a delicious supper. After dinner we went for a walk over to Laurelhurst Park. A few drops of rain fell a couple of times. Chris says that's usual for Portland rain, which often drizzles or mists rather than being sustained heavier showers.