Update on Don

Three months have passed since Don’s stroke. Several of you have asked about him, so I thought I’d use today’s blog to update you.

Every week we’ve gone to one to four doctor appointments. Ophthalmologist, optometrist, neurologist, cardiologist, neuro-optometrist, rehab, and numerous tests. Stir and start all over again. Simmer. Not one of them is off our medical menu yet.

But it has boiled down to two major facts.

First, Don’s vision loss is permanent. If you were to square off with him, eyeball to eyeball, he would not see any of your face from the center out to the left. It’s blank. To the right, he would have some blind spots, like missing pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. The light is dim, and there is “garbage,” as he calls it, floating around. Interestingly enough, his eyeballs are whole and healthy. It’s his brain that is the problem.

In many ways, his sight loss is minimal. He can see well enough to watch a Colts game, and he hasn’t missed a night of TV or DVDs yet. He just has to sit in a different spot to compensate for the vision loss to his left. He can read and does so every day—Bible, newspaper, whatever novel he’s into. And he can write. A larger font is all he requires, though he has looked at other techno assists. Best of all, he can still help his wife by clearing the dinner table and sweeping the floor. *big smile* The only loss that’s been hard to cope with is that he can’t drive. Wifey-poo now does that, and all those years of back-seat driving are into payback.

The second major fact is that we need to investigate why he had a stroke (and one ten years ago). None of the usual reasons are there. He’s healthy, his heart is healthy, his carotids and blood vessels are healthy. The doctors say he is a rare case. He can take meds to reduce his risk for another stroke, but why not find the actual cause and treat it? Yesssssss, we like these doctors!

Except it means more appointments.

We appreciate your prayers—thank you! We are wonderfully blessed by God’s goodness toward us.

Steph Prichard