MY EYESIGHT AT RISK: A WORK IN PROGRESS

As if being lame from the sudden withdrawal of the osteoporosis drug Prolia discussed in other posts, I am learning more about how my eyesight may be at risk!

I have been diagnosed with a retinal disease, macular degeneration, in BOTH eyes.  In one eye the less serious dry macular degeneration, treated nutritionally, and in the left eye, the more advanced wet macular degeneration, now being treated with injections by a retinal specialist.

A retinal specialist told me that the osteoporosis drug Prolia was the culprit here, while Amgen maintained the macular degeneration was more likely associated with osteoporosis itself.  

This put me in mind of the verse from Rabbi Ben Ezra by Alexander Pope: 

Now, who shall arbitrate? 

Ten men love what I hate, 

Shun what I follow, slight what I receive; 

Ten, who in ears and eyes 

Match me: we all surmise, 

They this thing, and I that: whom shall my soul believe? 

I found myself in the same situation!

I generally tend to distrust remarks from drug companies, but it turns out that it was, in fact,  the inaccurate and misleading remark by the retinal specialist that unleashed this flood of events -- including three vertebral fractures -- leaving me with much pain and disability to this day!

I will report more as I learn more.  Here here are some links to what I've posted earlier. 

1) Prolia and Vision -- Must I Choose between Lame or Blind? 

http://www.joansbackbonedisaster.com/2021/05/lame-and-blind-revisited-eyes-have-it.html

This is about the relationship between Prolia (and other osteoporosis drugs as well as osteoporosis itself) and macular degeneration. 

2) Will I Have Vision or Bones in 2021.

http://www.joansbackbonedisaster.com/2020/03/will-i-have-any-vision-in-2020.html

This expands on the same frightening theme!

More as I learn more! 

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P.S. Note added August 2021: Please note that BONE specialists say the retinal situation is not because of the Prolia, and that the osteoporosis itself is responsible for the retinal issues.  

And it turns out that the comment regarding Prolia made by the retinal specialist that unleashed this flood of pain and disability was totally inaccurate.  But I suffer from this misinformation to this day.  I'll keep reporting as I learn more! 

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DB METHOD SQUAT MACHINE

Exercise is important, but it is hard for me because of the multiple vertebral fractures I sustained when, heeding the words of the doctor treating my eyes, I delayed my Prolia shot, resulting in painful and disabling vertebral fractures.   

One of my favorite exercise devices, especially when I cannot get out and walk, is my DB Method Squat Machine.  

Please visit these websites!   

https://thedbmethod.com

and

https://thedbmethod.com/pages/app-landing

Depending on which accessories you buy with the machine the price could range from $329 to $476 plus shipping.   These extras are explained at the website.  

It takes up very little room, and was not hard to set up.  It needed some assembly but one of the men in the apartment building where I live helped me with this.

You can use this as a squat machine to do squats in good form and you can also use it for a variety of upper body exercises.   

My DBMethod machine lives in my bedroom and I use it every day!  It's like having a whole gym right here where I can use it!  

And it's so quiet I can even use it late at night in my apartment and watch TV!

No excuses!  

Just Google DBMethod Exercises and you will see lots of different ways to use this small, ingenious "mini-gym!"

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BIKKUR CHOLIM -- WHERE IS IT TODAY?

Bikkur Cholim - the visitation of the sick, is a Biblical concept that dates back a long way.    I'll fill in more about this later!  But in the meantime see: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikur_cholim

MILTON: ON HIS BLINDNESS

Milton: On his Blindness

When I consider how my light is spent, 

Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,

And that one talent which is death to hide

Lodg’d with me useless, though my soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker and present

My true account, lest he returning chide,

”Doth God demand day labor, light denied?”

I fondly ask.  But Patience, to prevent

That murmer, soon replies: “God doth not need

Either mans’s work or his own gifts: who best

Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state

Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed

And post o’er  land and ocean without rest; 

They also serve who only stand and wait.

                                             John Milton -- 1608-1674

                                                            Written Circa 1652

One of many analyses online:  

https://goodstudy.org/on-his-blindness/#.Y30GjC-B1jc

One source has "that one Talent which is dear to hide,"

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THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: A PARODY TO PROLIA

To Prolia by JDL

Lyrics © 2021 Joan D Levin

Tune: Thanks for the Memories

Thanks for the constant pain, 

With fractures of the spine,

And eyes that could go blind, 

And dentists scared to treat toothache, 

Because my jaw could break,

I thank you, so much!

And thanks for the itchy skin,

That covers me with bumps, 

Just more of Prolia’s lumps,

I only hope more bones won’t break, 

And leave me with a hump, 

I thank you, so much!

     Like a fool I allowed this disaster

     And got those shots under my skin,

     Now problems come faster and faster, 

     Being lame is a grind, 

     And I’m scared to be blind —

It seems there’s no safe way off,

The truth to you I’ll tell, 

The prospects don’t look well,  

Prolia has sent me on a one way trip to Hell — 

So thank you?  Not much!

                                      ~~~~~~~

As to the eye condition, I have gotten conflicting opinions. One of the retinal specialists who treats the macular degeneration in my eyes said I had this condition because I am on Prolia. 

But the doctor who administers the Prolia says the eye condition is because I have osteoporosis. Two specialists with two different opinions!  Go figure! 

(Note - since this post was written I have learned that contrary to what the eye specialist treating me told me, it was most likely NOT Prolia but the osteoporosis itself that was associated with the macular degeneration.  See other posts about this.) 

And see: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/osteoporosis-prolia-and-macular-degeneration/

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BEACH WATCHING - BUT NO BEACHGOING -- FOR ME

 Saturday June 18, 2022 - 4 p.m.  

A  beautiful beach day here in Chicago as seen in this picture of Oak Steet Beach today.    

I won't be there though.  The pain from my "Prolifrax" (the word I coined to denote the fractures I suffered from the mismanagement of this drug for osteoporosis) has left me pretty much unable to manage even brief excursions like this on my own.

So I'll watch from my balcony as other Chicagoans enjoy this beautiful beach day on Lake Michigan.

Two words describe how I feel today.  

The first is a naughty four letter word beginning with F.  

The second is a six letter word I'll spell out here: 

P-R-O-L-I-A!!!!

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THE LADY OF SHALOTT SPEAKS TO ME!

The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson is a poem based on the Arthurian legend of a noble lady imprisoned in a tower where even the brave knight Lancelot cannot save her.  

You may read the entire poem here: 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45359/the-lady-of-shalott-1832

So imprisoned, the Lady of Shalott spent her days weaving tapestries, inspired by what she could see using a mirror from her small tower window, prompting these lines: 

But in her web she still delights 

To weave the mirror's magic sights, 

For often thro' the silent nights 

A funeral, with plumes and lights 

       And music, came from Camelot: 

Or when the moon was overhead 

Came two young lovers lately wed; 

'I am half sick of shadows,' said 

       The Lady of Shalott. 

As I lie here, mostly confined to my house, in part by  the current COVID-19 epidemic, but mainly by the disabling pain from my Prolia-associated fractures, my primary link with the outside world is television. 

And what is TV but shadows?  

I too am half sick of shadows!

Read more about the Lady of Shalott here: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_of_Shalott

     

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DEALING WITH SOLITUDE -- W. H. AUDEN SAYS IT ALL!

I manage.  That's about it!  Between the COVID-19 epidemic and the vertebral fractures I don't go out, I don't see people, meet friends, etc.  E-mail helps.  Phone calls are nice too but sometimes exhausting and sometimes at bad times.  

I am so in mind of Auden's poem, Night Mail.   

I've posted about it elsewhere as well: 

http://joansgoodstuff.blogspot.com/2022/01/night-mail-by-whauden.html

Especially these lines: 

Asleep in working Glasgow, asleep in well-set Edinburgh,
Asleep in granite Aberdeen,
They continue their dreams,
But shall wake soon and hope for letters,
And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart,
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

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