Eye spy with my little eye...

Each week brings hope and challenges as I continue on my road to recovery. 

Last week, I was able to increase my time at work up to 5 hours a day. I am trying to slowly increase my work hours without jeopardizing my recovery.  I feel good that I was able to achieve this goal but I am very exhausted after 5 hours and continue to take long naps each afternoon. Between working part time and doing my physical and eye therapy there is not a lot of spare time in my day. I am behind on emails, I will try to do better on my blog as that is easier than doing individual emails for now. 

I am gaining strength each week and learning to adapt to my new lifestyle. I miss being out and about with friends and events. I am still challenged in public with noise and motion.  I have attempted it a few times, and I tend to pay the price by getting extremely exhausted, dizzy, nausea and loud ringing of the ears. This week I am to get my new custom earplugs. (Goodbye ugly neon orange and green foam earplugs!) I am very excited as this should help some with my over-stimulation in public and events.

I had my 2 month follow up appointment with my neurologist last week and I have some good news. He said I am continuing to heal since my last appointment. My eyes are tracking movement better and my pupils are constricting when focusing on his finger as he moved it close to my eyes and away. It appears my eyes are still healing, and my new prism glasses and visual therapy are working!

I continue to push the envelope of what I can do, whenever possible. I have signed up for Oregon Adaptive Sports to downhill ski with their visually disable program as I have a limited field of vision and lack depth perception. Watch out Bunny Hill, here I come! This should prove to be very exciting! I got my Mt. Bachelor 4 Pack Pass this week and ready to go as soon as the snow arrives!

Thank you all for your support, I appreciate you all being on my journey with me!

Hi ho hi ho its off to work I go!

It has been two months since my last my last entry and 9 months since my brain surgery.

Since my last post I have continued to make gradually improvements.  I am getting used to my prism glasses. At my last eye appointment we learned that my eyes can maintain single vision in a 8" x 10" area directly in front of me and a little bit below and to the right of me. Outside that area my vision remains a bit jumbled and doubled. The good news is that my sweet spot for vision is perfect for computer work. I continue to work with a Vision Therapist to try to further improve my vision and to learn strategies to navigate more independently.

A month ago I returned to work 4 hours per day at the Center for Teaching and Learning / University of Oregon. It is good to be back at work! My co-workers have been very supportive and helpful with my re-entry. My office is conducive to my recovery because it allows me to work in a quiet and calm setting. With time I will be increasing my work hours. But for now, I come home from work and head straight to bed for a long power nap in the afternoon. After my nap I am able to make dinner and work on my balance and vision therapies. Doing my therapies daily is my other regular job.

I do not drive but have become very adept at riding the local city bus. I continue to have difficulties being in the public or in large groups, because my eyes are have difficulty tracking motion and I am sensitive to loud and ambient noises. Yes, I still have supersonic hearing.  Last week I heard Rod’s cell phone vibrate upstairs in his office while I was downstairs napping. To help address my over-stimulation from sounds I hear, I am having special custom earplugs made. I will receive them in a couple weeks.

I am often asked how long will it take for you to get back to normal, or if my hearing and visual limitations are permanent?  Well, if I had a magic crystal ball I could answer that question. Unfortunately, we really don’t know how much more recovery to expect and when. My recovery is slow, but it is happening!  Compared to where I was last year at this time -- when I was in in extreme pain, using a cane and having rapidly deteriorating health -- my current health condition is a cakewalk. I firmly believe in neuroplasticity, which involves the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. Rod and I continue to see improvements and we remain optimistic about my future. We also accept that I might have some long-term limitations in life but that will present new life experiences for me.