Click here to read about my last appointment.
How Did the Last Two Weeks Go?
Everything was pretty normal for the last few weeks until my Wednesday night soccer game. I play every week with a great group of friends. It’s very casual, so we say, but everyone shows up in cleats and shin guards and plays pretty aggressively. Some of the people played high school or college soccer, I did not. I have actually never played soccer until this group started a few months ago.
So Wednesday I was feeling extra aggressive and I was running down the field, ready to score, imagining myself as the girl below. I charged towards the goalie and kicked the ball out too far in front of me and the goalie went for it too.
Unfortunately, he got to the ball first and booted it…directly into my face. I blacked out for a second, then just stood there as the pain settled in and my eyes and nose started watering like crazy. I sat out for a second while I got my wits back and then went in and finished the game. It was pretty cold outside so it didn’t actually hurt too bad, it was like the air iced my face. I didn’t even get a visible bruise, which was nice. Although my nose is still pretty sore.
I went home that night and while I was brushing my teeth, I realized that my eyes were straight. I looked back at the mirror multiple times, turned my head from side to side and confirmed that my eyes were straighter. I took multiple pictures so I could fully examine what was going on.
Almost straight eyes! My husband confirmed it and I was so excited. It lasted about 30 minutes or so and then they went back to normal, but then I realized that I could straighten them. I stood in front of Zac in the bathroom and I would try to straighten my eyes and he would say “yes! That’s it, hold it” and I could hold it for a few seconds before it hurt too much and I had to “let go.”
To straighten my eyes I try to open my peripheral vision and take in the whole room. Then I imagine the view from my left eye and the view from my right and try to see them both at the same time, kind of like trying to cross my eyes. I also imagine things in front of me coming towards me and I try to pull them in with my eyes. Sounds crazy, right? That night, everything stayed clear when I did this. Now if I manage it for an instant, everything is blurry.
I was able to do it the next day as well, but by the time I got to my appointment I couldn’t. It was pretty disappointing. I wonder if the inflammation from getting hit did something to make it easier to straighten my eyes. It’s a shame that it’s so unpleasant to get hit in the face or I’d consider doing it more often.
How Did the appointment Go?
The appointment was great, more progress! The progress pictures are looking the same as always.
Virtual Reality
We spent about 5-10 minutes working on the Optics Trainer program. I did the star search a few times working on opening my peripheral. He was changing the controls to adjust what each eye was seeing, but I honestly didn’t notice any difference. I guess it’s still a work in progress. Either way, Star
VTS4
We had a lot of fun on the VTS4 at my appointment. I started up close and had similar success to the past few weeks. I can see when it’s getting closer pretty easily, but it’s harder when it’s far. It wasn’t as clear as usual though.
Then Dr. Dan had me back my chair up to the other side of the room and stay at a distance. I was trying to straighten my eyes and see the ring come in and out and he was apparently watching my eyes. Every time that I could see the ring correctly my eyes were straight, then I would lose it and the ring would go flat.
I’m learning to straighten my eyes. I know that if we keep up this hard work, straightening my eyes will become second nature, and soon after I will be able to see with stereopsis.
Polarized Glasses
Last we went to something brand new which was fantastic. It was fascinating, per usual. Every time I get a new exercise I find it completely brilliant and wonder why I hadn’t thought of it first.
With Polarized Glasses, one lens has tiny horizontal lines and the other vertical that aren’t visible to the naked eye. They aren’t lines, but I don’t have the technical language to say what they actually are, so I’m going with lines because it helps me visualize how they work.
So if you were to look at me, you would see the picture below. It looks like very lightly tinted sunglasses. The crazy thing is that if you look at yourself in a mirror and you aren’t seeing with both eyes you see one lightly tinted lens and one black lens. So if I’m looking through my left eye, the left lens is see through and the right is black.
But why?!? It took me some deep thinking, but I think I’ve got it figured out. The left eye looks through the horizontal lines on the lens into the mirror and through the mirror looks through the vertical lines on the lens over the right eye. When you combine the horizontal and vertical, it goes black.
My goal, look into the mirror and see both sides as clear, this means that both eyes are looking and seeing their own side. So far, I can make both eyes see, but everything is way too blurry to see the color. I just know I’m doing it when I can’t see anything.
Homework
- OKN Stripes – Continue 1-2 minutes daily with both eyes together
- Pola Mirror – Where Polarized glasses and look into a mirror. Focus on getting both eyes working so that both sides appear clear.
- VR Occulus GO- Spend more time, 10-20 minutes, each day. Focus on slow-moving videos or VR experiences where I can stop and relax my eyes.
- Gem Vectograph – Hold at A and tap the center, trying to see the 3D, then hold at 1 and try to see the 3D. Do this with and without my prism glasses on. Add on balancing on one foot during the exercises.
- Yoked Prism- Keep stretching my brain with different activities with the yoked prism. Try juggling or playing Kubb outside while wearing them.
Read about my next appointment here.