In honor of Brain Injury Awareness Month here are all the blogs we have posted about this subject:
Concussions
Concussions Continued
Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation
Here are two of our success stories:
My name is Adam. In 1994, when I was three years old I was diagnosed
with a brain tumor. That same year I had my initial surgery, where the
doctors were able to remove about 60% of the tumor. A month before the
surgery a shunt was put in due to hydrocephalus (fluid buildup inside
the skull) and spinal tap was performed to assess the tumor. Eight
months after the first surgery, the tumor grew back twice the original
size. The doctors were able to remove about 90% of the tumor at the
time, the remaining 10% of the tumor had latched onto my brain.
As long as I can remember my left eye had given me trouble. It would
veer out and would get worse when I was tired. This caused me to have
double vision all the time.
With the double vision, I would get tired easily because of the
difficulties with trying to concentrate. I even got surgery on my left
eye to try to correct the double vision, but unfortunately my double
vision got worse as time went on.
This past year I was enrolled in the Traumatic Brain Injury program
at Tennessee Rehabilitation Center. They referred me to Optometric
Physicians of Middle Tennessee. I saw Dr. Durocher; he ran a series of
tests to see what he could do to help my eyes work together. He fitted
me for glasses with prisms and gave me home Vision Therapy exercises.
This made my double vision go away!
Since the double vision went away I am now able to work. I am
currently employed at TJ Maxx in Brentwood and I am doing very well at
work. I will continue to see Dr. Durocher and his team whenever I need
help with my eyes. The staff treated me so well at Dr. Durocher's
office. I had a wonderful time working with Dr. Durocher. I am very
thankful to Dr. Durocher and his staff for helping me. They cured one of
my biggest problems, and are a great group of people.
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My name is Esmeralda. I was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia. To
treat it I had a surgery called Microvascular Decompression (MVD). It is
a surgical procedure that relieves abnormal compression of a cranial
nerve. There was a complication with my surgery and I had a brain
hemorrhage. After the brain hemorrhage I lost mobility in my right eye,
had blurred vision in both eyes, and double vision.
I then started rehab and then they referred me to Dr. Durocher. He
examined my eyes, he then prescribed me prism lenses and recommended I
do aggressive Neuro-Optometric therapy. I started therapy with Mrs.
Kate, she gave me home therapy and I started to see her weekly. She
began to work hard on my eyes. After a few weeks I started using my eyes
together, and didn’t see any double vision! I thank God and the help of
the medical staff at Optometric Physicians. I believe that therapy is
critical to recovery, and I want to thank them for all the help with my
eyes. May God bless you and give you wisdom to continue to help, to
those who need it most.
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It has been an honor to have had the pleasure to work with Adam and Esmeralda. It motivates me to continue to help spread the word about Vision Therapy and Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation. If you know someone who has had a Brain Injury refer them to your local optometrist.
