Grandma had her 4th treatment for macular degeneration today, and I thought you might like to see what that involves. First, let me say that each time we get to the retinologists office at 1:00 p.m., and leave no earlier than 5:45 p.m. We wait for 20 or 30 minutes, and then Grandma starts with Shelley doing a vision test. This is not Shelley, it is Dr. Varenhorst of the great gray hair and the cool back pleated lab coat. He examines her vision after Shelley is finished and after another waiting period.
Then upstairs to the talkative and complaining guy who does some photos of the inside of her eyes.
Then across the hall to the overly jolly guy who does some other kind of photos of the inside of her eye, gives her an injection of dye, and repeats the photos three times at intervals.
Then back downstairs where Dr. Varenhorst of the cool pleated lab coat examines her eyes again in relation to the photos and gives us a status report. Again this time he indicated that the injections are working and the disease is no longer progressing. Have I mentioned that there are long waits between each of these steps? Oh,yeah!
From there Grandma goes to the treatment room where they won't let me go. Dr. Weishaar gives her an injection in the eye. She waits 30 minutes and then gets a 2nd injection in the same eye. They give her drops to deaden her eye, and only once has she experienced any real discomfort. They keep checking the pressure in her eye until it is at a proper level, which is what they are doing here.
And finally, Dr. Weishaar, who did the injections, gives her a final exam to make sure everything is O.K., and he tells us we can go home.
We weren't the LAST car out of the parking lot, but almost. Done until next month.
Then upstairs to the talkative and complaining guy who does some photos of the inside of her eyes.
Then across the hall to the overly jolly guy who does some other kind of photos of the inside of her eye, gives her an injection of dye, and repeats the photos three times at intervals.
Then back downstairs where Dr. Varenhorst of the cool pleated lab coat examines her eyes again in relation to the photos and gives us a status report. Again this time he indicated that the injections are working and the disease is no longer progressing. Have I mentioned that there are long waits between each of these steps? Oh,yeah! 
From there Grandma goes to the treatment room where they won't let me go. Dr. Weishaar gives her an injection in the eye. She waits 30 minutes and then gets a 2nd injection in the same eye. They give her drops to deaden her eye, and only once has she experienced any real discomfort. They keep checking the pressure in her eye until it is at a proper level, which is what they are doing here.
And finally, Dr. Weishaar, who did the injections, gives her a final exam to make sure everything is O.K., and he tells us we can go home.
We weren't the LAST car out of the parking lot, but almost. Done until next month.
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