Thursday
I know I haven't posted an update for a while. After Monday, things have quieted down some, so there seemed less to say.
On Tuesday, we went to see a neural ophthalmologist to see about Linda's double vision. It was in many respects very much like any other eye visit. As far as eye function, her eyes had no physical damage (caused by brain swelling for example) and her glasses are the correct prescription for her. To help with her double vision, they prescribed a prism that glues to the lens of her glasses and shifts the image for one eye.
With the prism, Linda can see one image again, at least sometimes. Her eyes still have some tracking problems, so when she looks in a new direction it takes a minute for the images to reconverge. She says that it is very annoying, and she prefers to just continue patching one eye. It does seem that her tracking gets faster as she wears the prism, but I don't have any real way to measure it to be sure. She describes the world as "too 3D." I told her that that didn't sound wrong to me. She has been looking at the world in 2D for two months. Getting back to 3D might be as noticeably different after as going to a 3D movie is. Sometime I'll try to do a "Linda vision mockup" in the gimp so you can see what it looks like. It won't reproduce that sick-to-your-stomach feel, but maybe you'll get the idea.
One of the best parts of the trip was the van ride to the hospital. Last time we went for something, Linda had to go on a gurney. This time she was in her wheel chair. On the way she commented, "It... is... nice... to... look... out." We talked about how we had just been using the new letter board during our last trip and how we had forgotten it and been unable to communicate. That was only 6 weeks ago. Linda said, "Now... I... am... walking. Cool."
The eye doctor had requested Linda's CT scans and such as related to her diagnosis (which he never actually used). So we retrieved them from Boone, and they came on a CD. You'll know I was annoyed to find that you have to use a viewer program that comes on the disk--a Windows application. Luckily it runs great under Linux using the Windows emulator. Sometime I'll post a little lesson with pictures about the circle of Willis and the basilar and vertebral arteries, at least as I understand them.
Finally, a quiz question. What is the most dangerous activity most people engage in? If you are a neurologist, you're not allowed to answer.
I know I haven't posted an update for a while. After Monday, things have quieted down some, so there seemed less to say.
On Tuesday, we went to see a neural ophthalmologist to see about Linda's double vision. It was in many respects very much like any other eye visit. As far as eye function, her eyes had no physical damage (caused by brain swelling for example) and her glasses are the correct prescription for her. To help with her double vision, they prescribed a prism that glues to the lens of her glasses and shifts the image for one eye.
With the prism, Linda can see one image again, at least sometimes. Her eyes still have some tracking problems, so when she looks in a new direction it takes a minute for the images to reconverge. She says that it is very annoying, and she prefers to just continue patching one eye. It does seem that her tracking gets faster as she wears the prism, but I don't have any real way to measure it to be sure. She describes the world as "too 3D." I told her that that didn't sound wrong to me. She has been looking at the world in 2D for two months. Getting back to 3D might be as noticeably different after as going to a 3D movie is. Sometime I'll try to do a "Linda vision mockup" in the gimp so you can see what it looks like. It won't reproduce that sick-to-your-stomach feel, but maybe you'll get the idea.
One of the best parts of the trip was the van ride to the hospital. Last time we went for something, Linda had to go on a gurney. This time she was in her wheel chair. On the way she commented, "It... is... nice... to... look... out." We talked about how we had just been using the new letter board during our last trip and how we had forgotten it and been unable to communicate. That was only 6 weeks ago. Linda said, "Now... I... am... walking. Cool."
The eye doctor had requested Linda's CT scans and such as related to her diagnosis (which he never actually used). So we retrieved them from Boone, and they came on a CD. You'll know I was annoyed to find that you have to use a viewer program that comes on the disk--a Windows application. Luckily it runs great under Linux using the Windows emulator. Sometime I'll post a little lesson with pictures about the circle of Willis and the basilar and vertebral arteries, at least as I understand them.
Finally, a quiz question. What is the most dangerous activity most people engage in? If you are a neurologist, you're not allowed to answer.
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