Slammin'SAM
Never a flatbelly
No, not the album!
I was driving home from work a week ago, when I noticed a curiosity - the road signs on the right side of the road were becoming two signs as I approached and passed them. I began paying attention to this phenomenon, and sure enough all objects to my right were doing this. This went on for a couple of days, and I mentioned it to Mrs SAM, who pooh-poohed it. At the early part of this week, it changed - even looking forward distant objects were becoming twins. The center lines of the roads went ahead of me as one line, but maybe 100 feet ahead began splitting and becoming two lines, and oncoming cars were twins. Let's just say from Tuesday thru Thursday driving became a real adventure - I had to drive with one eye closed or else tilt my head to the right and look left to only see one of everything.
I had a doctors appointment scheduled for Thursday afternoon, and when I went I told him about this - he was quite concerned, and wanted to get me in for an MRI and an opthomalogist immediately. I had looked on-line at the possibilities, and let's just say the list of causes starts with aneurism, stroke, and tumor, so his obvious concern alarmed me, too. He said his office would try to line up both MRI and eye doc for Friday and would call me. Friday morning I got the call, and they could get me the MRI Saturday morning. This all brought in a new wrinkle - my workplace insurance is changing Monday to a new plan, therefore a new deductible, so I really needed to wait til Monday since MRI's aren't cheap and I had $0 toward deductible on my current plan. The doctors office then said lets get you in to the eye doctor and let him make the call on whether an MRI is needed.
They got me an appointment at 3:30 Friday. After the regular eye checks and dilation, the doctor came in and upon exam said I have the classic symptoms of 6th Cranial Nerve Palsy. He explained that the 3rd, 4th, and 6th cranial nerves control the eye muscles, and the 6th controls movement to the outside of the face. My movement in the right eye to the right was weak, so that nerve was compromised. He said it is not rare, but quite uncommon, that he sees about one case per year. He instructed me to cover my left eyeglass lens with semi-transparent tape and pretty much just use the right eye, and that it generally clears itself up and returns to normal within 6 weeks.
I am going this morning to get the tape and will follow his orders to the letter. Driving is really the only thing this disorder has affected to any real consequence, but believe me that is a big thing when you aren't sure you can drive safely.
I know this was a long read, but I am just wondering if anyone in the community knows one or has themselves gone through this malady.
I was driving home from work a week ago, when I noticed a curiosity - the road signs on the right side of the road were becoming two signs as I approached and passed them. I began paying attention to this phenomenon, and sure enough all objects to my right were doing this. This went on for a couple of days, and I mentioned it to Mrs SAM, who pooh-poohed it. At the early part of this week, it changed - even looking forward distant objects were becoming twins. The center lines of the roads went ahead of me as one line, but maybe 100 feet ahead began splitting and becoming two lines, and oncoming cars were twins. Let's just say from Tuesday thru Thursday driving became a real adventure - I had to drive with one eye closed or else tilt my head to the right and look left to only see one of everything.
I had a doctors appointment scheduled for Thursday afternoon, and when I went I told him about this - he was quite concerned, and wanted to get me in for an MRI and an opthomalogist immediately. I had looked on-line at the possibilities, and let's just say the list of causes starts with aneurism, stroke, and tumor, so his obvious concern alarmed me, too. He said his office would try to line up both MRI and eye doc for Friday and would call me. Friday morning I got the call, and they could get me the MRI Saturday morning. This all brought in a new wrinkle - my workplace insurance is changing Monday to a new plan, therefore a new deductible, so I really needed to wait til Monday since MRI's aren't cheap and I had $0 toward deductible on my current plan. The doctors office then said lets get you in to the eye doctor and let him make the call on whether an MRI is needed.
They got me an appointment at 3:30 Friday. After the regular eye checks and dilation, the doctor came in and upon exam said I have the classic symptoms of 6th Cranial Nerve Palsy. He explained that the 3rd, 4th, and 6th cranial nerves control the eye muscles, and the 6th controls movement to the outside of the face. My movement in the right eye to the right was weak, so that nerve was compromised. He said it is not rare, but quite uncommon, that he sees about one case per year. He instructed me to cover my left eyeglass lens with semi-transparent tape and pretty much just use the right eye, and that it generally clears itself up and returns to normal within 6 weeks.
I am going this morning to get the tape and will follow his orders to the letter. Driving is really the only thing this disorder has affected to any real consequence, but believe me that is a big thing when you aren't sure you can drive safely.
I know this was a long read, but I am just wondering if anyone in the community knows one or has themselves gone through this malady.
