Steve, You will be in my thoughts and prayers that you stay strong and healthy until you can have the surgery. The health care in the US is not that great at this point as well. What is going on with our health care systems?
Hi, I'm Gina. I had an AVM rupture in 2007 in my right front temporal lobe which resulted in an emergency craniotomy and resection. Ever since then I have a black horizontal line running straight across my eyes, at first I thought I had my reading glasses on and they had slipped down to where I was looking over them (know what I mean?), but then I realized I didn't have my glass on. It was there all the time at first and I guess it still is and I just don't notice it as much but the times I do see it are if I'm in a dark room and walk into a room that has light, moving from dark to light really makes it show up. Oh, and as far as numbers and letters go, I most always leave the last number off of a phone number or address I am writing down, and the same with leaving out letters in words I am writing. I am getting better because I have learned that I have to keep rechecking and rechecking what I write but for awhile, I was writng checks with totlly wrong amounts and addresses and phone numbers leaving out numbers. As I was checking what I just wrote to you, I left out a letter in a word of every sentence and caught my mistake I think most of them after rechecking quite a few times!
That's what I do too!
Hi Susan,
I'm sorry to hear about all you've been through. Your ophthalmology consultant is correct in saying that the problem is not in your eyes. The left occipital lobe processes information about the right visual field (the area to the right of where your eyes are fixated). Damage to that brain area can lead to blind areas on the right, including blindness for the entire right visual field.
These blind areas do cause problems with reading, but you can usually learn to overcome the problems. When we read a word, we usually focus our eyes somewhere around the middle. People with blindness in the right visual field have to learn to look instead at the end of the word, so that the whole word falls into the left visual field.
It sounds as if your blind spot is smaller, but you will still probably need to learn to look at the ends of words, and perhaps make a few other adjustments. The low vision unit may be able to help you with this; you might also look for a neurologist, speech/language pathologist, or behavioral optometrist who has experience with problems like yours.
Please let me know about your progress.
Mike
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your prompt reply. How long do you think is an acceptable period of time for a brain to heal? Reading is difficult but manageable. I feel that my brain is working slowly and reading aloud is slow but hopefully as my brain adjusts I will become a more confident sounding reader. I work in finance and have been out of work since September 2012 but plan to go back to work in another 6 weeks. I am concerned about my blind spot and how this will affect me at work as leaving a zero off the end of an amount could be a serious mistake. My driving licence expired in January this year and although I have fair peripheral vision my opthamology consultant does not think I would be given my licence back. I don’t think I would be safe driving but do you think someone could drive having a central vision loss by constantly moving your head to scan the roade ahead rather than moving your eyes.
Hope you know what I mean. Thanks Susan
Hi Mike, I just had Gamma Knife surgery done by Dr. Lungsford from Pittsburg University. They gave me a vision test prior to the procedure. My avm is located in the dead center of head. I was wondering why they did this. Ever since the procedure I have been having vision problems with looking at things like small letters. I always had perfect vision. I play poker part time for a living and I noticed this when the dealer put the cards on the table and I couldn’t make out the 3rd one. I looked at the back of my watch and I could no longer read the serial number. I even had my bring over a magnifying glass. My question to you is can this be a side effect of the sugery. They had compication with the angiogram because they didn’t have the magnets alligned right. I was going through so much pain because they had to do it over and over again for a long time. I thought my head was gonna explode I was in agony. After the procedure I questioned the doctor who performed it and he got sarcastic with. Is this Normal?
Hi Ben, you sound like me! I seem like a totally normal thinking person until I have to function with others listening and talking for more than a couple of hours, and then I know exactly when it has been three hours. If I have been listening and talking for a solid three hours then it's as if I have had a few drinks! I haven't had a drop in over five years but after three hours of continuous talking and listening, I actually slur a bit or stumble walking and feel like I'm in a fog.
The brain can take a long time to heal. Most recovery occurs within a year, but I see people continuing to improve after several years.
I can see that leaving off a zero could be a problem in finance! I expect that you will develop strategies to check yourself, and these will probably become more automatic with time.
About driving, I don't know how large your blind spot is, and I also don't know the laws where you live. However, I'm not sure that relying on constant head movements to compensate is such a good idea. Things can happen quickly when you are driving, and you don't want to endanger yourself or others by missing something.
I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with the angiogram.
Your vision problem might be a result of the Gamma Knife surgery, but I would need to know more before I could say anything else. It sounds as if your surgery was quite recent, so perhaps this is a temporary issue that will resolve over time. Can you tell me more specifically where your AVM is? There are lots of structures related to vision near the center of the head. Also, do small things look blurred, or is it more that you can only see part of them?
Neither of our countries seem to be able to get health care right. Let me know how you get on, and I hope your vision holds out until you can get the surgery.
I never worded it as if I had a few drinks before.. That's funny and at the same time - it's true. Like you, I haven't had a drink in many years. After socializing for any length of time, it sure does feel like I have been drinking... Hmm? Maybe that's when I should have a drink? LOL
For me - I get brain fog so bad that I'm just "out there'. I can't even remember what was said 3 minutes earlier and my vision gets blurry too. Needless to say, I do my best to avoid those situations all together. :)
Ben
Ben, I know what you mean! I used to be in the middle of everything going on and now I also avoid groups as much as possible. I feel like I may say or do something off and people won't understand or will think I've had a few too many, and I just feel too self conscious or maybe I just need new understanding friends! I feel so very lucky to be here at all like I am and don't see a change coming so maybe I just need to get out there and make new "understanding" friends!
Hi Michael... I am three months post occipital AVM resection. My visual difficulties are no where near as difficult as your 12 y/o patient, but I have a lot of difficulties with numbers. Mostly handwritten, typed don't seem to bother as much. Let me know if I can offer any information.
Barb