Kyle here again.
The big news: I got my new glasses. The power has been increased umpteen zillion times, and I can't see much better. There's a lot more to vision than just acuity.
My right eye isn't too bad, but the left stil loks at a pretty fuzzy world. Also, there are blind and confused spots in both eyes. A word, such as "deal", will be missing parts of the "d", the "e" will bevery grey, if there at all. The "a" may be missing some parts, but the "l" will be just fine. And the next timne I look, it will be all different.
It's still getting better every day, though.
Other items:
More pictures will be added over time. Here is the first one. This is a ct scan from a couple of weeks ago. The back of the head is facing up. Notice the vertical butterfly shaped thing in the middle. That's the clamp on the artery. The other white spot seems to be the empty or fluid filled area where the vein used to be, and changes position as the scan progresses. That's because we are looking at different slices of the brain. The vein moved through at an angle. (This is a large image, give it time to download.)
Update July 29, at 4:30 pm.
I got a call from the doctor this week. The MRI didn't show anything they would be surprised to see after AVM surgery. He also asked me to stay an extra day when I see him again in September, so I could have another angiogram. I told him I would rather have another brain surgery. But that's the way it is, and since he seems to know what he's doing better than I do, it would probably be good to follow his advice.
We will be moving to a newer, larger apartment tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that. But just helping to move a chair yesterday wiped me out for 3 hours. Several people from the church are supposed to come over to help. Since keeping things int he same place is still very important for me, I will generally be supervising where things get put.
A note about the church: I attend the Oasis Seventh-day Adventist church. The church family has been extremely supportive, as they are with about everyone. They tend to view me as a walking miracle or a special healing in the making. I'm not sure I agree, but neither am I inclined to disagree with them. It's been a rough experience, and their love and care has really helped a lot. I would strongly recommend to anyone who is facing tough times or trying experiences to get in touch or stay in touch with a church family that will give them the support they need. I believe that just knowing that someone is asking about you and praying for you can help speed up the healing process. Hugs are really nice, too.
Today's picture is the one of the back of my head, about 6 weeks after surgery. I have read several people's comments about being concerned about having the back of their head shaved. My attitiude is this -- if shaving the back of your head and having it look odd for 3 months or so will save your life, go for it. Besides, you can't see people staring at the back of your head. So it doesn't need to bother you. The only real concern is about sunburning those bald spots!
As you can see in the picture, only the area of the incision, and one bald spot really show up. So it's not too bad. The bottom part of the incision below the hairline doesn't show up very well, but if you enlarge the picture, which you can do with some browsers, you can see it. And in answer to the question about whether it itches -- yes, something aweful! But it's getting better every day.
Unless there are major changes, this will be the last weekly update. From now on, the links will be by month. Just check the "Last updated at" message in the bottom left corner of your screen. That will give you a clue as to whether there have been any updates for the current month.
(Note: 10-13, I just noticed that I still had right and left confused when I wrote the paragraph above. The message is on the bottom right side. Kyle)