Click here to read about last week’s appointment.
How Did the Last Week Go?
Guys…I did it again. I ate uncontrolled amounts of sugar and junk food and my brain was not happy about it! It was my husband’s birthday and we ate out 4 times, which is unheard of for us. We usually only eat out 2-3 times per month.
My brain was clearly missing it’s normal diet. We eat pretty healthy and I generally get at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies every day.
So replace all the veggies with cake, pasta, and peanut butter m&ms and you have me last week. I kept going on my exercises because I felt fine in the morning, but by 3 or 4 each day I was dying. I ended up taking ibuprofen multiple days trying to fight the headaches. I wore my sunglasses everywhere to keep from straining, everything seemed so bright.
So naturally, I’m starting for the millionth time today to be healthier and give my brain the fuel that it so desperately needs. If I’m going to ask it to change and have plasticity and all the good things, I need to actually give it a chance!
I was super consistent with my exercises, despite the yuckiness. I didn’t notice a lot of stereopsis happening in normal life. I was probably just too tired to try. But I’m so proud of myself for sticking to my exercises and getting them done anyway.
I got my book in the mail this week! “The Shape of the Sky” by Dr. David Cook just arrived yesterday and I’m already about halfway through. I’ve decided to do a quick read the first time through and I’m marking sections and passages that I want to go back and study more. So far it’s super informative and I’ve got some great ideas. I’ll do a full review when I finish! (Full Review HERE, purchase the book HERE)
Before the book arrived, I passed my time reading a research article written by Dr. Cook covering similar information. It is much more medically based and is definitely written for optometrists so it was slow going. But there was an epiphany!
As I was reading, I came across the following warning, “The words, “be peripheral” can be used, but only if the patient understands that “being peripheral” includes awareness of space, not just on the x-axis, but on all three axes: x,y, and z.”
I was doing exactly what he warned against. Every time Dr. Dan tells me to open my peripheral, I imagine that I am trying to see the wall directly to my left and right while looking forward. I realized that I was only taking in a fraction of what was needed. I was limiting my full seeing power!
The words, “be peripheral” can be used, but only if the patient understands that “being peripheral” includes awareness of space, not just on the x-axis, but on all three axes: x,y, and z.
Dr. David Cook, “the shape of the sky.” Vision Development and rehab.
I was sitting in my bed reading, dumbfounded and looked up from the article to see my room completely transform. I suddenly saw the whole room as a 3D axis, like the hundreds I’ve graphed on in my years of math education.
I was inside the graph and looking around trying to identify what the coordinates of each object in the room would be. Then I took it a step further and jumped into multivariable calculus and wondered which equations I would use to represent some of the different objects I was seeing. Then I realized that that class happened 15 years ago and I have forgotten so much.
I was pretty much in awe. I feel like everything has changed now. Understanding this concept is helping me understand what peripheral means in a whole new way!
My progress pictures are looking pretty good today. My eyes are changing!
How Did the Appointment Go?
Virtual Reality
Dr. Dan adjusted my prescription so that is good I guess. I realized that I was seeing the screen mostly on the left side. It feels like my eyes aren’t averaging out what they see. My left eye sees it on the left, my right eye sees it on the right and together they should see the images in the middle. But I still see it more towards the left. I don’t know what it all means, but it’s something to solve for. Maybe the book will have some hidden secrets for me.
Aperture Rule
Dr. Dan had me try using an Aperture Rule for the first time. I still have so much to learn about this tool, all I know is that it is so hard and I wasn’t able to do it at all. There are two images and you put your nose up to the stick and look through the little whole.
Each eye sees one image and if your brain combines them, I’m guessing something 3Dish happens. I wouldn’t know. There are little tiny circles at the top and I got them to align for a moment, but it was so difficult. Maybe I just need some more time.
VTS4
Today I sat down and noticed depth right away before I realized that the shake feature was turned off! It was definitely more depth than I’ve been able to see in the past. Once the shake feature was turned on I imagined the z-axis and was able to see some great space between the screen and the ring. I know that I’m not all the way there, but the space is slowly appearing.
After doing the stereopsis ring, Dr. Dan had me try Multiple Choice Vergence. Basically I look at a big picture of an emoji in the middle of the screen and on each side there is a cartoon hand. I hold a video game controller and click whichever hand is closest to me.
I just started going and didn’t think much of it. I could easily tell that 3 numbers were behind the huge smiley face image and one was in front. I just kept going and was on a roll. During the 4 minutes Dr. Dan asked a few times if I was seeing the depth, and I was.
When it finished, I looked over and realized that he was shocked at how well I did. The VT, Matt, and him had apparently been exchanging looks of amazement while I just plugged away. I got to “26,” I think the highest I’ve gotten before this was maybe 12 or 13. That is some Major progress. I was pretty excited when I realized what a huge achievement it was.
We were almost out of time so we only had 2 minutes to try Base out, I think I got to 15 or 16. It was harder to see the depth with base out, but I know I could have gone further if I had had more time.
We tried the Randot Duction fusion activity at the end, just for fun, but my eyes were so tired and I wasn’t able to see any circles of any sort popping out of the screen.
There were definitely highs and lows this week and during the appointment. That is the nature of this journey. There is always an activity out of reach that is too difficult, but there are also activities that I am mastering bit by bit.
Homework
- AmblyoPlay – 15 minutes each day on the AmblyoPlay app. Focus on looking soft and creatively adjusting exercises to engage peripheral.
- Ball Games – Swing the ball in and out and use extended arms to hold the ball between hands, thumbs, or fists. Focus on seeing the ball move on the z and y axis while keeping peripheral open.
- Gem with Brock String- Use a window to combine the gem with the brockstring. Work on Base In and Base Out and seeing the Z-axis!
- Virtual Reality- Spend time on the Optics Trainer app using peripheral.
To read about my next appointment click here.