Not seeing but not a vision problem...

[curlycuz]

Hi guys, so for those of you who know me, my father in law suffered a pretty horrific hypoxia injury after a cardiac arrest which lasted 50 minutes. He was down for 50 minutes but luckily, he had someone performing top shelf CPR on him the whole time. For a few weeks we didn't think he'd make it and didn't know if we'd get any of him back. Somehow, this amazing guy, has beaten all odds of his 3-6% chance of survival and even smaller chance of any kind of recovery. And he's now in rehab. We're 5 days away from it being 2 months since the incident and he's walking, talking, eating, washing, and recognising loved ones and even showing empathy.

I realise how incredibly lucky we all are compared to many on this site. I am so grateful. I wondered if some of you guys might be able to give input on 2 things that are puzzling me;

One is, I believe my father in laws vision is fine. He can read and look at things and identify them. However, unless he is focussing (mentally ) on the object:person he can't see them sometimes. So for example. We went to visit him yesterday and he was looking at my children, talking to them. I walked right up to him and stood at a 35 degree angle from him and said hi. He seeened to not hear/see me. It was only when my mother in law said his name and told him I had come over that he turned. He apparently does this with other things like when they took him to the gym and said "shall we use the excercise bike" he said "yes let's, where is it then?" And it was right in front of him. He knew what one was too apparently. So this seems like less of a vision issue and more of a focus issue.

I realise in the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal seeing as what we could have lost but I was just curious if this happened to anyone else?

Also, he has some amnesia from before the accident, but more and more is coming back. He remembers my kids (they've only been around 5 years) and living in another country (the past year-2 years) but doesn't remember the house he's lived in for 30+ years. Very odd. Is this normal?

Thanks for your input. Once again I don't want to sound ungrateful as I know we have so much, it's more just trying to understand how these things work. He's also very worried about certain things and fixates but even when resassured and shown physical proof that something t is ok, he still can't seem to let it go...

Thanks for input.

[Kirk5w7]

Hi curly cuz

It's called visual neglect. I have a degree of it, sometimes I have to look really carefully and focus hard before I can be aware of just what I am looking at.

I have had it confirmed by an optometrist, my eyes work fine I can see it's just that sometimes what I am seeing is not registered in my brain.

If you are aware of it then you can make allowances for it. Even now 5 years on it can surprise me but I very rarely knock things over now. I used to do it a lot in the early days, I can be surprised by people just suddenly appearing by my side. We laugh at it now but it caused me a lot of consternation at first.

It is one reason I don't feel able to drive, it wouldn't be fair to other road users.

So, it sounds the same to me, I don't know if it will ever improve but it doesn't stop me from doing what I want to. I still go out and about on my own I just have to concentrate and be very aware of my surroundings.

Love Janet x

[curlycuz in reply to Kirk5w7]

Thank you! that's amazing. I didn't realise that was a thing . Thank you for giving it a name . X

[Flumptious]

I am registered 'blind', as although I can see everything OK to my left, I see nothing to my right. If I *look* to the right, I can see there OK, but if I look forward, the ight side is missing. It could easily be something like that.

I am missing the year and a half before my accident, and the 6+ months afterwards. I didn't know I had moved house, or had a second baby. Parts of that time are very vaguely coming back, but only very vaguely. My day-to-day memory was awful, for a good 6+ months afterwards, but it is fine, now.

I was in a right state for those first 6 months (and I was in the rehab ward). I was eased out of hospital about 6-8 months, and went back to work after 18 months. These things are slow - don't give up!

[curlycuz in reply to Flumptious]

Thank you flumptuous. Far from giving up. We're all here and so grateful to be given this second chance x sending much love and continued healing to you all x

[lew-ann]

Hi this is normal well it was for me and more lost 95% of my memory even now I really struggle, I have discovered what I don't know my brain makes up, but to me it's real so I can't trust my brain for the first 6 month I would easily become fixated for example I had a sudden flash of memory a set of three rings I remembered having, so I pulled the house apart, no one could stop me I shamefully say I would turn violent if challenged but family would clean up after me needless to say I have few family and friends left now

Oddly enough it was photos that quieted me down I found a huge box full of them

At first I didn't recognise things /people or just plane didn't notice this even right in front of me it was noted by nurse and eventually the neurologist it's almost like a daydream even though your talking, it's hard to discribe it's just not there even now I have to shout someone to find something for me it's just not there

It's better now but it still happens quite often

It does get better or at least I'm aware,

every thing has its place so I know where to find it especially keys if I mindlessly put something down there's a good chance there it would never be seen again

Lewann

[curlycuz in reply to lew-ann]

Lewann, that all sounds so hard! Well done you for not giving up and sharing your experience. I'm glad you've got good people around you. It's not the amount, it's the quality. Patience is necessary. Sending warm hugs x

[cat3]

Hi Curly. What great progress your father in law is making ; everyone must be starting to sigh with relief.

I had a peripheral vision problem for a short while after my brain haemorrhage but it corrected itself within a couple of months with no intervention. With so many recovery issues to consider it's a matter of prioritising, so if you feel this problem could cause safety issues for your dad in law then it needs to be raised with his therapists.

Otherwise you could take the 'wait and see' approach in the hope that his brain will succeed in compensating for possible deficiencies.

It can take months/years of exercise to crank up the memory to an acceptable state but it's usually a combination of practice, and acceptance of the deficits, which achieves that state.

I hope there'll be some really positive developments this year Curly, and your whole family can start looking forward to better days. Love Cat x

[curlycuz in reply to cat3]

Thank you so much Cat. Everyday is a miracle now x

[CJDA94]

Hi again curlycuz.

I'm sorry I can't offer any help with the vision question but I just wanted to say how lovely to hear the great progress your FIL has made. You must be so made up. It sounds like he is coming along a treat. What a great Christmas present for you family - brought a smile to my face

xxx