Doppelbilder

Today I will talk a bit about double-vision. Firstly, A bit about my personal brain injury. Mine is a diffuse axonal injury (DAI, grade 3) . Not everyone survives this. I had some brain swelling as I lay comatose in Malta. The most obvious result of this, to me, was double vision and it is, as they'd say in Ireland, a real pain in the hole.

The German name (the blog article title) for this condition is more apt to help me explain what it is. 'Bild' is German for 'picture', so a crude translation would be 'double pictures', and that's exactly what it is. We have two eyes, like cameras, recording everything they see. The brain takes these two distinct pictures, from varying angles, and merges them into one vision. My brain, sadly, no longer does this, leaving me with two competing images to contend with. There are some hilarious consequences of this. For example, I have poured, perhaps, 5 litres of bottled water, destined for my glass, directly on top of various tables. To say nothing about the attention I get from children when I'm out and about, thank-you Johnny Depp.

The negative impact on my balance while attempting to walk, is sorely felt. So too is the absent reason for having two eyes, in the first place, while wearing the Augenklappe (German for eye patch). Namely, depth perception.

I hear this can be resolved with laser surgery, if it doesn't go away by itself. As such, I mean to leave it there since it's only a small, irksome, temporary quibble that I have.