This month has been full of so much growth for me! I have been working so hard with my life coach and can I tell you that it is life changing? I firmly believe that everyone needs a life coach. I have been learning that when I fall short on goals or expectations I don’t have to just quit! I can learn from mistakes, reset goals and then move on.
I am slowly tweaking my habits to create the results that I want and it feels so good. I have been prioritizing my vision therapy exercises and trying new routines to make it possible. Here are a few things that are making a difference:
- Getting up super early, especially when the kids don’t have school, to get vision therapy done first thing in the morning.
- Eating healthy so that my brain is functioning at its best.
- Truly listening and internalizing the tips from my optometrist and implementing them throughout my day
- Trying something new everyday to keep my visual system learning. Usually this means applying or exploring vision in new scenarios; paying attention to trees on a walk, practicing visualization techniques, reading and applying tips from books.
- Doing Vivid Vision in the evenings while everyone is watching a show instead of trying to cram in into the mornings.
Some things work, others don’t. I pretend I’m a scientist experimenting with different techniques, I fully believe that I will find the perfect combination eventually, until then I just keep moving forward.
Near Gaze 
Distant Gaze
Daily Life Highlights
Here is a look at this month’s ups and downs.
Cheetah Glasses
My mom bought a laser cutter last year and one day we were chatting about red/blue glasses and a brilliant idea was born. We have been experimenting with designs for red/blue glasses to use with vision therapy and I’m loving it so much! I get to tell her that they are too high, too low, too small or too big and she can redesign them for perfection.
Turns out that VT is way more fun when done wearing cheetah glasses! I asked for a butterfly pair for my birthday. I can’t wait!
We are going to be adding them to the shop so check back often and see the new designs we put in there.
Getting Covid
Getting covid was a fun adventure. My optometrist got it at the same time so at least I didn’t have to miss more appointments than necessary. My kids all joined me at the house for home learning and between that and having covid, I was exhausted!
Many of my covid symptoms mimicked my side effects from VT: headache, fatigue, nausea. Because of this, I definitely took it easy on home exercises. I just wasn’t up for double the symptoms.
My case was pretty mild, although my taste and smell are still gone! It’s annoying, but also really helping me make better food choices. Food is fuel, not fun, right?
Buying a 3D TV
My birthday is March 25 and my only request was a 3D TV, the only trouble is that they don’t make them anymore. Zac was awesome and found a whole set online for me and my sister went and picked it up for us. We had to drive a few hours to go retrieve it and it was quite the process to set up, but I think it is going to be super beneficial for my therapy!
I knew that HUGO was a really artsy 3D movie so that was the first one we tried. I was able to see some depth, but not as fully as the rest of the people watching with me. I could sense the depth more than see it and I would back away from the TV, even though I wasn’t seeing things come super far out.
That night and the whole next day I was experiencing all the craziest visual symptoms:
- Everything in my peripheral seemed to be moving quickly and was giving me motion sickness.
- I couldn’t keep my train of thought going longer than about 15 seconds. I kept trailing off and forgetting what I had been talking about in the middle of sentences.
- I was seeing double, not distinctly, but trying to paint my nails was interesting because my finger almost seemed blurred and I couldn’t tell exactly where it was.
- I was experiencing stereopsis, life was looking like HD and as blowing my mind.
- I was really tired, cranky and I didn’t want anyone to touch me (maybe that was the effect of quarentine)
While that list might entice some to never watch another 3D movie, I decided that I will be adding a 3D movie at least once a week. I feel like it will help me move forward in my therapy!
I think my favorite movie so far has been “Gravity.” Who doesn’t want to see George Clooney’s dreaminess in 3D!?! It is also a more slow moving movie so my brain has time to keep up. I love 3D!
The GEM
Two days after the 3D movie I saw depth on the gem. Real depth, more real than I’ve seen since surgery. I felt like it was measurable and tangible. I could see it behind AND in front.
I don’t know if it was the peace and quiet with the whole house asleep or whatever watching that 3D movie did to my brain, but it was different. I am excited to be moving in the right direction!
Snow
On my birthday I had the best birthday surprise ever! It was an awful, cold, day and it was snowing off and on throughout the day, doesn’t that sound like a fun surprise? haha We stayed inside and played cards and did puzzles and it was wonderful and then my husband texted me the following:
GO OUTSIDE! THE SNOW FLAKES ARE SO HUMONGOUS!!!
Intrigued, we all ran outside and he was right. We were looking at the biggest, fluffiest, thickest snowflakes ever. There were several that were the size of a dime and they were slowly drifting down.
This created the perfect storm for me to practice seeing snow in 3D. The fact that they were moving so slowly, gave my eyes/brain a chance to take it all in and I started seeing incredible depth. It wasn’t constant, it was coming in and out.
With one eye working, it was more of a blur of snow, almost like a sheet of snow falling from the sky. I wasn’t seeing individual flakes. There was more an abstract wall of snow in front of me.
I could tell that both eyes were working when I was suddenly seeing individual flakes. I would see a specific flake across the yard and then others close by. This time, I felt like I was seeing so far away, like the snow went on forever and I could see exactly where every single snowflake was traveling. I kept thinking, “Is this really what snow can look like? I can see forever!”
I excitedly announced that it was officially the best birthday ever and I just soaked it all in. It is so fun to experience the world in 3D!
Appointment Highlights
March 2– Just a few quick notes from my first appointment of the month: Yoked Prism with bean bag, Vivid Vision with stepping added made great depth in office but it didn’t transfer to home, VTS4 (15 BO 9 BI), binasal onto sunglasses.
March 9- I worked so hard on all the usual activities and it was killer. We used a machine that I stared into and saw little fans called the MIT. Sometimes the fans were over the little black dot, but other times it was off. I have no idea how it worked, but I had to stop because it was making me sick. After the appointment I just sat in the car and tried to rest because driving was not okay at that point! My brain settled down and I got home just fine…with the radio off, of course. I felt the normal nausea and dizziness afterwards.
March 23- More work with the yoked prism, balance beams and beanbag tossing, all while keeping my peripheral open. I also worked with the gem with a variety of distractions going on in the background including a fun little DJ game. One activity was surprisingly hard for me. Dr. Dan held a marker lid and I had to guide the marker into the lid while patching one eye at a time. My arm wobbled and weaved and entirely missed the lid, but I improved. I am always so surprised when extremely simple tasks feel so difficult! Note: After working on this for a week, I am amazed to see the improvement! I am starting to use a smaller target and my brain is learning so quickly!
March 30- I saw some great improvements on VTS4! I was able to “touch” the ring and really play with the fact that it was floating. It wasn’t perfect, but it was more concrete than it’s ever been. I could clearly see that the ring was much closer to me than my hand. Instead of it being 2-3 inches in front of the TV, it was more like 10-12in. Maybe the 3D movies I’ve been watching have something to do with it. It isn’t 100% concrete, but it is moving in that direction.
Dr. Dan also had me bounce on a trampoline while doing the gem. He had a Marsden ball behind the gem and for the first time EVER, I saw the gem kind of go through or intersect the ball. It was really interesting and exciting.
I’ve decided that I’m going to finally start listening and wear my glasses with prism full time. I will hopefully be able to lessen the prism amount over time and eventually see with stereopsis and no glasses! I know I will get there eventually, I just have to keep working at it!
It’s so easy to be excited and thrilled about everything when I am making these big improvements! I’m finding that consistency, eating healthy and trying new things are all huge key factors to my success. Life coaching has also been amazing. I am going to be training to become a life coach and I am so excited to be able to start offering the things that I’ve learned to all of you. Life changing!