Tips for supporting your loved one with wet AMD during their doctors appointments
If you have a loved one living with wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), you understand that navigating treatment can be challenging. Accompanying them to doctor’s appointments can provide comfort and security. Everyone responds to help differently, so keep their best interests in mind and have a conversation ahead of the appointment about how you can best support them.
Below are a few considerations and tips for supporting your loved one with wet AMD at ophthalmologist appointments.
- Compile questions ahead of the appointment. Between appointments, try to keep a list of the questions to bring to the next appointment. Writing down non-urgent questions that you or your loved one come across during daily life will help your loved one remember what to ask the ophthalmologist. Of course, for any urgent questions, speak with a doctor immediately.
- Support your loved one as the appointment gets closer. Some hesitancy or worry ahead of a doctor’s appointment is common. It’s important to understand why your loved one is concerned, so you can best support them. For example, worry about transportation to an appointment is different than fear around getting an injection for treatment.
- Ask for clarity during the appointment. If a doctor says something that confuses you, chances are your loved one may not understand either. Sometimes repeating what you understood back to the doctor can help them recognise the gaps in your understanding. This way, they can provide more information or explain something in a new way. It may also help to ask the doctor to explain technical information or test results in context of what it means for your loved one’s vision and treatment plan.
- Compile questions ahead of the appointment. Between appointments, try to keep a list of the questions to bring to the next appointment. Writing down non-urgent questions that you or your loved one come across during daily life will help your loved one remember what to ask the ophthalmologist. Of course, for any urgent questions, speak with a doctor immediately.
