Below are the prevailing optic symptoms associated with incurring a Traumatic Brain injury of any severity, not even solely a critical TBI, as befell me.
My parents, as a result of my lacking memory of any of the 3 hospitals I inhabited, have relayed as much, including what the doctors imparted upon us when I was discharged lastly. Among the doctors’ profuse variety of warnings, a preliminary necessitated action item was conveyed: get your eyes tested. The eyes are extensions of the brain, so it’s only sensible that if you injure your brain to any extent, and certainly to the critical extent I did, you’re eyes too could be extremely impaired.
The following can take place for survivors of Traumatic Brain Injuries:
- “Blurred Vision: Difficulty seeing objects clearly.
- Double Vision (Diplopia): Seeing two overlapping images of a single object.
- Light Sensitivity (Photophobia): Discomfort or pain from bright lights.
- Visual Field Loss: Partial or complete loss of peripheral vision or portions of the visual field.
- Eye Movement Difficulties: Problems with eye teaming, tracking, and focusing, affecting tasks like reading or following moving objects.”
I went to an optometrist to get my eyes checked in Santa Rosa, soon after my discharge from California Pacific Medical Center. This resulted from a combination of of the aforementioned doctor’s warnings & my Mom’s conveyance of the reality that reading for the year proceeding my incurring my critical TBI too, had involved plenty of squinting. The findings: I newly needed reading glasses, but nothing more severe that’d necessitate an ophthalmologist – sublime fortune, within this horrific experience too, befel me once again.
*I’m unendingly committed to acknowledging each positive. The profuse amount of negatives inherent within this recovery, necessitates this, as positivity promotes perseverance!
But let’s be real, I incurred my TBI when I was 26, nearly 27. Both of my parents wear reading glasses….I will happily exclaim, that alike nearly all other other potential symptoms from a critical Traumatic Brain Injury that haven’t transpired for me, this is yet another. Not to discount the grand amount of symptoms I have battled, which have necessitated a drastic change in my reality. Having lived within this altered reality for 13 years now, however, has instilled not only new norms of mine but also acceptance. FINALLY!