Not-So-Evil Knievel has been home for about a week and a half now and we are starting to get some answers to some of our questions. It’s a process! On Tuesday we saw the maxillofacial surgeon again, and he said everything is still looking great and healing well and it’s all good.
Yesterday we saw the neuro-ophthamologist, which was the biggest piece of the recovery puzzle. That doctor said that the double vision is being caused by something called “left sixth nerve palsy” which sounds…. benign? Apparently this can resolve on its own over time but if not, then there is a pretty simple procedure the doc can do to fix it. The thing is, the timeframe is WAY longer than Impatient Man would like. The doctor won’t even consider surgery until this has been a thing for six months.
Yay? OH BOY. I know the double vision issue sucks. He can’t read for very long and he can’t really type, so reading and answering email is a long and exhausting process, but we’ll figure something out. There is a thing he can get for his existing glasses (prism film?) that might help a bit so at least he can look out of both eyes and not have to wear a patch all the time like some kind of deranged suburban pirate. But getting some answers to that part has been very helpful to keep him from climbing the walls!
He is anxious to get back to work and I totally understand that but we also want him to get all of his pieces stuck back on first. Today we’re visiting an endodontist to have a look at his teeth and see if there is any additional damage to the front tooth he lost most of. I want to post a picture of it but he’s self-conscious about how it looks (rightly so, because it’s HILARIOUS) so I can’t but he might, on his own. With luck, it will be an easy fix and if we’re REALLY lucky there will be something temporary they can give him until the permanent fix happens, whatever that is, and he can stop looking crazy and start looking more normal.
His basic functions all seem to have come back strong. I’ve been making him handle dinnertime, and he hasn’t poisoned us or burned the house down yet so that’s good. He’s handling a lot of his medical phone calls and appointment-making, which is also excellent. I still have to drive everywhere but that’s perfectly fine with me. He’s walking a lot better than he was even a week ago but I still don’t want him wandering the neighborhood on his own just yet. So I have to take him out for walkies, like he’s a dog.
He does poop inside, though.
Overall, things are going well. His memory is pretty good, other executive functions are pretty good, and once we get the double vision under control, he’ll be pretty close to his normal self. We’re almost a month out from this thing and the progress he’s making has been excellent.
This was a very boring post. I promise I’ll have something funny to say very soon.