Update #72

Ryan had an eye appointment this morning that lasted for 2.5 hours. Ugh! A resident examined Ryan’s eyes. She determined that his vision is improving since his last vision test. He had 20/20 vision in one eye and 20/25 in the other.

The ophthalmologist that saw Ryan examined his eyes for ways to correct his double vision with glasses. He tried a few different prisms on Ryan’s eyes. He was able to correct Ryan’s close up double vision, but not his distance double vision.

He prescribed two different sets of glasses for Ryan. Reading glasses with a prism in them as well as regular prescription glasses for distance to correct the minor vision deficiency in one of his eyes. He will still have a problem with double vision and will need to wear a “patch” that clips on to his glasses to fix that problem.

The doctor said that if his double vision doesn’t improve in 3-4 months, he will evaluate Ryan for surgery then. But, it is very normal for patients to have double vision for up to 6 months after a head injury.

Ryan had a short PT session this afternoon. In anticipation for our upcoming weekend pass, the therapist worked on car transfers with Ryan and I. We practiced getting Ryan out of the wheelchair and into my car a few times. It was a little awkward at first, but it got better. It is so weird man-handling someone that is a foot taller and 70 pounds heavier than you.

In KT, Ryan had his first pool workout. He was wheeled into the pool using this cool PVC-pipe wheel chair. It had mesh for the seat and back. It kind of looked like patio furniture.

When Ryan was in the pool, they used a floating “walker” and practiced walking. It was like a floating rectangle that Ryan stood in the middle of and used for support. He did pretty well.

The therapist also worked with Ryan’s left arm some. After that, he supported Ryan while he floated on his back for a while. Ryan had to keep his body as flat to the surface as possible.