Archive for the ‘Health’ Category
We went to my mom’s ophthalmologist last Friday to check her eye’s condition. She wasn’t supposed to meet her ophthalmologist until next month but lately she’s been complaining that her vision became blurry again especially when she tried to read so we decided to make an appointment immediately.
The doctor said there was a swelling around my mom’s eye as a sign of Cystoid Macular Edema (CME) so he sent her to CDC room to get an OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) test to make sure. However, somehow they couldn’t perform the OCT test so the doctor used ultrasound instead. Here’s the result.
His doctor then proposed an Intravitreal triamcinolone (IVT) injection as treatment to reduce the edema. He explained several possible causes of CME and the side effects of IVT. He also recommended some further tests to find out the exact cause of my mom’s macular edema such as hematology and TORCH test, thorax x-ray and dental checkup (in case she has tooth cavity).
The injection is scheduled on Wednesday at 2PM but we have to be there by 1PM as we will have further discussion about the procedure. Hopefully the IVT procedure can help to improve her vision.
We went to the hospital yesterday to meet my mom’s ophthalmologist. That was part of her monthly routine check-up after having Lucentis injection for her AMD treatment on August. The initial schedule was supposed to be on the 10th of November, but since it had been raining hard lately we had to reschedule the appointment until yesterday.
The hospital, Jakarta Eye Center, is about 30 km away from our house and easy to be reached by train since both our house and the hospital are located near the train station. However, during bad weather like this, traveling by train is not a good option. There will be many delays or even cancellations. We tried to wait until the weather was good, but it never happened, it got worse instead.
So yesterday I forced myself to drive her to the hospital under heavy rain. My mom actually didn’t like the idea of me driving in rain, and to tell you the truth I didn’t like it either, but we couldn’t delay it any longer since she ran out of her artificial tear (Hialid 0.1) and started to feel burning sensation in her eye so she needed to get a new prescription.
Anyway, despite all the troubles we went through during our drive to the hospital, we heard good news from her ophthalmologist yesterday. He said my mom’s AMD treatment was showing a great result and her eye was already back and stable to its initial condition (which was after the glaucoma and cataract surgery), praise God. So the doctor changed her monthly check-up into every three month. Her next appointment was set on the first week of February next year, unless she felt something uncommon in her vision or her eye then she needed to see him immediately.
She also got a new prescription for her artificial tear and it’s copy until the next three months. Her ophthalmologist advised her to slowly reduce her Hialid 0.1 dosage from 6 times a day (current dosage) to whatever level she feels comfortable. His recommendation was to reduce it gradually until only three times a day but it depends on my mom’s eye reaction. That’s a really good news for us and we’re so happy to hear them!
Yesterday my mom had an appointment with her ophthalmologist. It was her third check-up after having a lucentis injection for her AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration) treatment on August. Last month her doctor said he would check if my mom still need another injection on her next appointment.
Thankfully, after seeing my mom’s tonometri result yesterday, he said my mom’s eye has responded well to the injection, so no need to do the second injection. Her vision was already stable at 30/100. Her eye condition post glaucoma surgery was also good, with IOP (intraocular pressure) around 9-12 mmHg. So now my mom can continue her life without worrying too much about her eye condition, but her eye still need to be checked-up every month.
A 36D hand-held illuminated magnifier for my mom
After the appointment, her doctor sent my mom to Low Vision department to find a reading aid for her. Ever since she got AMD disease, my mom’s reading ability has dropped significantly. She could not read her Bible anymore as the letters were too small. This has become her main concerns as, for her, Bible was her source of life. She used to read it regularly every morning and for the last few months she was not able to do it. Her doctor said she needed a low vision aid to read small print.
After testing several lenses on her, the optician at the low vision department recommended a hand-held illuminated 9X (36 Diopters) power magnifier with built in LED light as her reading aid. It was actually not an ideal type for reading book as its lens size was only 35 mm so she could only read few letters at a time. But my mom said the most important thing was she could read her Bible again. She would need time to adjust with her new reading aid.
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.
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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.
