BARRIE'S STORY - An acoustic Neuroma patient
21. UPDATE 2 October 2004
I have continued with my latest Physiotherapist and my walking has continued to improve such that it is now almost normal. The main improvement is my balance and I can now take off my socks whilst standing on one leg. I still haven’t started to ride a bicycle again it will have to wait now until next spring. I can not run and whether this will ever improve I do not know.
My facial palsy has also made a small further improvement. I have been drinking without a straw for 8 months now and I think I am now drinking squarely rather than through the corner of my mouth. I still have stiffness in my face that appears to move up and down the right side of my face. Sometimes the stiffness is in line with my lips and sometimes it is around my eye socket. The effect is like a continual nagging minor pain.
My Physiotherapist has me doing exercises to strengthen my arm which is giving me more control.My handwriting is still painfully slow and requires my left hand to support my right hand when I am writing.I find I can quite easily sign my name for credit/debit card transactions albeit at a slow pace. I am looking forward to the change in the UK next January when credit/debit transactions are controlled by the use of PIN numbers and not signatures. I have noticed that my typing is also showing some improvement, with my right hand undertaking more activity.
My main problem area has been my eye. In July my Orthoptist removed the plastic lens helping my double vision and asked me to try for one week and see if my double vision had cleared. To my amazement things have improved and only return when I am concentrating on an eye test. I presume that the strain on the muscles in this situation is still too much for them. After my Orthoptist gave me clearance I was allowed to go back to my Optician and I was hoping he would be able to improve my sight. Unfortunately my Optician could do nothing because my eye was swimming with the cream and tear drops. He has delayed any action for at least 3 months. I am still seeing my Eye Surgeon who has said my sight will probably never be as good as my left eye and when I asked whether my tear ducts could be blocked I was told that if they are this will help to protect my eye!.
Someone recommended I see an Optometrist who has specialised in neural problems. He decided that the gold weight in my eyelid was causing my eyelid to operate incorrectly. Instead of it following the contours of the eye, the weight was causing the eyelid to skim off the eye when I blink. I therefore was not clearing the drops and cream properly off my pupil. He showed me how to rub the eyelid above the weight to help disperse the drops and cream. The resulting sight was improved slightly but even with a lens change the sight was not much better. It looks as if the various activities my eye has been through have affected my sight permanently. I came away from this visit somewhat depressed, but this was nothing in comparison to what happened next. The morning after the visit I awoke with a swollen eyelid. I took no action and it quickly got worse over the next two days. The swelling was so bad my eyelid could not open under my eye brow. On the third morning the eyelid found a weakness in the skin and puss and blood came out of the weakness. I was due an appointment with my Physiotherapist but instead she directed me to go to the Casualty Eye clinic at the local hospital. There it was confirmed I had a significant infection in my eyelid. A swab of the puss was taken for analysis and I was put on a course of Penicillin. While taking the course of Penicillin I noticed a gold ridge appear on my eyelid. The infection had resulted in the weight in my eyelid becoming unstitched and my body was beginning to reject this foreign object. An urgent visit was made to my Eye Surgeon who confirmed what had happened and that the weight would have to be taken out. I then had a wait of 5 days before the outpatient operation could be arranged. In this time the weight was rejected further and more than a third of it was sticking out of my eyelid by the time it was removed. I am now recovering from this latest operation on my eye. When the lid has healed I am expecting I will have to have a weight put back into the eyelid.
Other websites developed by the same author:-
htttp://www.weekehistory.co.uk
htttp://www.nickspoetry.co.uk