vision recalibration

3 years ago I had a stroke.

Ive put this video together so that hopefully it will help others.

I used to play sax, guitar, keys and sing in a rock band and I worked as an engineer.

The stroke robbed my of my ability to sing and keep time, so my band playing days have been cut short.

The stroke also left me with some neglect on my left side.

Loss of pain sensation

Loss of hot and cold sensation.

Loss of peripheral vision in my left eye

My license was automatically cancelled

My balance and fine motor skills seemed to be reasonable intact.

I had trouble with cognitive processing which eventually lead to my retirement from engineering.

I also had auditory comprehension issues.

Losing my independence and relying on others and public transport to get around really rocked me.

I was attending speech and occupational therapy sessions privately and at the local hospital.

The exercises I received from the therapists helped with some of the cognitive ability and comprehension to return, but no one could tell me what I needed to repair my vision and get my my license back .

My GP eventually let slip that I needed to have a field of vision test done by an optometrist.

The speech and occupation therapists were giving me exercises to repair my speech and cognitive ability, I needed exercise to repair my eyesight.

there was very little wrong with my eyesight prior to the stroke.

I had to find a way to recalibrate my eyes and brain.

I came up with the idea of playing table tennis against a flat wall that I could do repetitively

I started playing Table tennis with my right hand

The table incluiding 2 bats and some balls cost $58 at Kmart.

I continued playing TT until I could do 50 or so hits without miss hitting

Someone said that because I was right hand dominant I should try to do with my left hand what I could do with my right.

So I started playing TT with my left hand instead of my right and doing 50 or so hits without miss hitting.

Each time you hit the ball you are making an instantaneous adjustment with your brain of the twist of the bat, the tilt of the bat and the force applied to get the ball to go where you want it to and make it come back.

I decided to challenge myself by putting a bat in each hand and alternating hits on the ball.

Well one thing lead to another and I challenged myself even further

I then played with one bat and changing hands mid shot

the exercise was using both eyes and I wasn’t sure if the left eye was getting much of a workout and potentially the right eye was doing most of the work, so I put a patch over my right eye to just use my left eye.

This part is difficult as by g covering one eye I lost all perspective and depth from my vision.

After approximately 3weeks of doing the TT exercise for about 10mins each day, I decided I was ready for the field of vision eye test.

Because of the stroke I was also required to undertake a neurological vision test at the optometrists.

I passed both tests and eventually got permission to drive again from the doctors.

see the video on my facebook page on link below

https://www.facebook.com/matthew.stevenson.716/videos/2169122450251777