Image from Louisiana Retina As the title implies, even though I stated in my previous blog post back in October of 2025 that I wasn't going to be doing any new development in the retro computer arena, that changed. In fact a lot has happened since that posting.
A month later I had a heart attack which put me in the hospital, and I walked out days later with two new stents installed in the arteries feeding the heart. I was also put on a lot of meds to prevent damage to the stents.
At first after leaving the hospital I was feeling much better than I had for at least a year prior, probably because I was finally getting good blood flow.
However a few months later while watching TV at night with my wife, I suddenly experienced a change in my vision to my right eye. It was like someone had dropped a heart shaped piece of something into that eye, thus obscuring my central vision. Later it was confirmed that I had experienced a retinal bleed likely brought on by Macular Degeneration (AMD). I had what was called "WET" AMD which is the type that can bleed out into the retina. So as can be imagined my life changed a lot.
At first it seemed like my vision issues were not going to be a big problem because my brain quickly adapted and learned to ignore all the "bad pixels". But it wasn't long until the issue progressed, and in a relatively short period of time my vision in that eye became completely obscured, and all I could see were shadowy remnants of whatever was in front of me through that bad eye. It had now become a distraction. So I got some new glasses fitted with a dark lens on that side thus allowing my brain to focus on my good eye. I had also tried the only treatment presently available for WET AMD, but that was both a bad experience as well as ineffective. So now I've accepted my situation and hold out hope that an alternative treatment is found.
So on the subject of getting back to retro computer development, I did embark on a new project in January of this year. Mainly my change of direction regarding this came about because I needed something interesting enough to take my mind off of my problems. That project is what I've called the 5200XEGS.
Here's a link to AtariAge where I've been discussing it and reporting on its progress.
- Michael
A month later I had a heart attack which put me in the hospital, and I walked out days later with two new stents installed in the arteries feeding the heart. I was also put on a lot of meds to prevent damage to the stents.
At first after leaving the hospital I was feeling much better than I had for at least a year prior, probably because I was finally getting good blood flow.
However a few months later while watching TV at night with my wife, I suddenly experienced a change in my vision to my right eye. It was like someone had dropped a heart shaped piece of something into that eye, thus obscuring my central vision. Later it was confirmed that I had experienced a retinal bleed likely brought on by Macular Degeneration (AMD). I had what was called "WET" AMD which is the type that can bleed out into the retina. So as can be imagined my life changed a lot.
At first it seemed like my vision issues were not going to be a big problem because my brain quickly adapted and learned to ignore all the "bad pixels". But it wasn't long until the issue progressed, and in a relatively short period of time my vision in that eye became completely obscured, and all I could see were shadowy remnants of whatever was in front of me through that bad eye. It had now become a distraction. So I got some new glasses fitted with a dark lens on that side thus allowing my brain to focus on my good eye. I had also tried the only treatment presently available for WET AMD, but that was both a bad experience as well as ineffective. So now I've accepted my situation and hold out hope that an alternative treatment is found.
So on the subject of getting back to retro computer development, I did embark on a new project in January of this year. Mainly my change of direction regarding this came about because I needed something interesting enough to take my mind off of my problems. That project is what I've called the 5200XEGS.
Here's a link to AtariAge where I've been discussing it and reporting on its progress.
- Michael
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