Click here to read about last week’s appointment.
How Did the Last 2 Weeks Go?
Things have been moving forward for the last few weeks. I finally had my appointment with the ophthalmologist and I scheduled surgery for August 26th. It is just a few weeks away. He spent 45 minutes with me and answered every single question that I had, what a great doctor! I am posting all the details in a separate post, click here to see the Q&A.
The day after my appointment I woke up and was CRAZY dizzy. I couldn’t walk straight and ran into the doors and walls as I tried to get upstairs. I finally sat down and closed my eyes to try to make the feeling of needing to vomit pass. I got upstairs and told my husband that I thought I had vertigo.
He is a physical therapist and treats people for vertigo pretty regularly so he went through the series to help fix it a few times and I was as good as new. I don’t know if it is related to strabismus or what, but it was definitely a crazy sensation!
We celebrated the 4th of July and I was so excited to see fireworks with stereopsis. I think I have been building this up for months thinking that it was going to be marvelous. Unfortunately, I’m just not quite there yet. The fireworks move too fast and the loud “booms” make me blink and make it hard to maintain stereopsis.
I was able to see some fun depth with the fountains, but they were so far away that I wasn’t sure. I don’t mind, it gives me something to work towards for next year.
How Did the Appointment Go?
Things went well today, there was a lot more talking than normal, but we were still able to do some good work!
Near Focus
Dominant (L)
Forced Near Stereopsis 
Near Focus
Non-Dominant (R)
Distant Focus
Dominant (L)
Forced Distant Stereopsis 
Distant Focus
Non-Dominant (R)
Surgery Chat
This was my first appointment with Vision Therapy after meeting with the ophthalmologist about surgery so we spent some time discussing all the details and our plans for vision therapy.
Dr. Dan thinks I will need another 20-30 appointments after surgery to make everything stick. Part of me wants to cry, the other part is ecstatic that there is a possible end in sight. There is still so much work to be done. 34 years of brain to rewire. We are well on our way, but it is not a small fix.
Optics Trainer
Most of the discussion actually happened while I was doing virtual reality with Optics Trainer. It is getting easier to see depth and open my peripheral and I can catch myself more quickly when I “let go” of seeing with both eyes. Nothing too exciting was happening with VR today though. Just exercising my brain.
Eye Control
I have been working on the “finger rubbing” eye control exercise for the last few weeks and it is making a difference. The basic idea is to rub your pointer fingers together while slowing moving your hands from side to side and maintaining stereopsis.
Today I was showing Dr. Dan my progress, which is great because he gives really good feedback about what my eyes are doing. He can tell if they are both engaged. As I moved my hand out to the left my hands went double and I felt my eye slip, but I quickly made my hands single again.
I said “oops,” and he pointed out that I was able to feel for myself and then fix the problem and that I am gaining so much more control and usually he has to tell me to fix it because I don’t notice. I felt so proud, sometimes I wonder if I’m actually a 5 year old stuck in an adult’s body because I thrive so much off of praise.
VTS4 Stereopsis Ring
Today Dr. Dan had me start close to the monitor while standing to get warmed up, then he asked me to start backing further away from the TV. While I was close (within about 18 inches) I was able to get actual stereopsis where I see the illusion of the ring actually floating in the air and separate from the screen. As soon as I started backing up the ring popped back onto the screen.
It’s so strange because even though the ring looks like it is on the screen, I can still tell if the ring is in front of or behind the post it notes that we put on the screen, but there is just a different feel. It isn’t floating.
We spent about 10-15 minutes on this and by the end I was backed up clear to the door (maybe 15 feet) and he started moving the ring super far out, trying to find a point where the ring went double. It never did really go double. He checked and my eyes were both engaged and I could start sensing that it was floating. At one point Dr. Dan went up to the TV and it looked like he went behind the ring (which shocked and delighted me), so I must have been seeing more depth than I had originally thought.
After the session timed out I took a sneak peak at the numbers and my max Base Out was 48!!!! The max Base In was less, I think in the 30’s. It was never going double so I was really excited about it! Unfortunately, my brain is now a foggy mess as I write this. It is totally worth it though!
Glasses Tape
Dr. Dan has been wanting to try some different ideas with glasses and has been asking me to bring them in for weeks. I finally went and ordered glasses, but they haven’t arrived yet so we just used my sunglasses.
He put tape on the outsides to try to force my eyes to stay in. I am supposed to wear them for 2 hours everyday and then we can make adjustments next week if we need to. They are so annoying! After wearing them for about 15 minutes I was ready to take a nap and my brain was hurting.
It seems like I experience those symptoms pretty much every time I’m given new exercises so it is less surprising now and I know that my brain will adjust and I’ll get used to it.
That is all for today! Happy Tuesday!
Homework
- Fusion Circle: Work with the Fusion Circle exercises from Dr. Cook’s Lecture.
- Optics Trainer Virtual Reality
- Eye Stretches: Week 1 do finger rubbing, Week 2 do Hide and Seek
- Polamirror: Week 1 Wear polarized glasses while looking in the mirror and try to see both sides as clear.
- Brockstring: Week 2 Do all the things to make the brockstring a great exercise.