Ramadan is over, today all Muslims in the world are celebrating Eid ul-Fitr or Indonesians call it Hari Lebaran. In Indonesia, this is the time when Muslims visit their family and friends to ask for forgiveness for any wrongs they have committed in the previous year. We will say, “Mohon Maaf Lahir Batin” which means “forgive me from the bottom of my heart/soul”.

My in laws are Muslims so we’ll be visiting their house today to wish Selamat Lebaran. We expect to eat ketupat there also. Ketupat is a type of rice dumpling, made from rice that has been wrapped in a woven palm leaf pouch which is then boiled. As the rice cooks, the grains expand to fill the pouch and the rice becomes compressed. Here ketupat is traditionally eaten during Eid, usually served with various vegetable and meat dishes. Most (if not all) of the accompanying dishes are cooked in spicy coconut milk.

Unopened cooked ketupat

Yesterday we had another appointment with my mom’s ophthalmologist. It was her second appointment after having lucentis injection for her AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration) treatment last month. She took an OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) test yesterday and the doctor seemed pleased after seeing the result. He said the abnormal blood vessel that blocked her central vision (macula) was significantly reduced.

This is her OCT result before treatment (notice the abnormal blood vessel in the white circle):

This one is her OCT result after treatment:

We have to wait another 4 weeks to see the maximum effectiveness of the treatment. After that he will see if she needs another injection.

AMD is a degenerative condition of the Retina in which the central portion of the Retina, called the Macula, is damaged as a result of the hardening of the small arteries supplying oxygen and nutrients to the Retinal tissue. It is reported as the leading cause of blindness in people over 50 years of age.

When my mom was diagnosed with AMD last month, her ophthalmologist offered two types of drugs for her treatment, lucentis and avastin. Lucentis costs Rp 11 million (US$ 1100) while avastin costs Rp 2 million (US$ 200). The big cost difference between two drugs made us think twice before we decided which type of injection we should choose. The doctor said, “If money is not the problem, use lucentis as it’s already world-wide approved for AMD treatment.” Even though many eye-doctor use avastin as cheaper alternative for AMD treatment, the drug was initially developed (and later approved by FDA) for colon cancer, not for AMD. But he also reminded us that it’s going to be a long run treatment, and he couldn’t tell how many times my mom need the injection. It will depend on the each injection result that will be evaluated every two months.

My mom had an appointment with her ophthalmologist this morning, it was her routine check-up after having cataract and glaucoma surgery last year followed by capsulotomy procedure three months ago. She’s been worried because her vision becomes blurry lately.

After seeing her OCT (optical coherence tomography) test, the ophthalmologist said she had an AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration) disease and had to be treated with avastin or lucentis injection. The difference? Avastin costs $200 while Lucentis costs $1100. I don’t have time to check further deep about those drugs yet, when I agreed to have a lucentis injection for my mom. Hopefully I will get more information before the procedure tomorrow.