Finding a Fresh Focus

During Geoff's first week in hospital, the development of double vision was a clear sign of the cancer's invasiveness.

It seems that a tumor in the base of his skull causes pressure on a vital nerve impeding the movement of muscles essential for focussing.

While the combined effect of targeted drugs attacking cancer cells and reductions in medication has resulted in resolution of many early symptoms, the diplopia has continued.

The more Geoff's condition improved, the more aware he became of the limitations due to the diplopia and the more determined to find a solution. Research led to the idea of specialised glasses.

The Lord had another miracle in store!

After four trips to the optometrist, including two very long appointments, Geoff is happily seeing ONE of everything! His new glasses for general use have prism correction which aligns the two images detected by his eyes. The only drawback is that prism isn't compatible with multifocal lenses so when Geoff took off his glasses to read his notes for speaking to a gathering recently, he quipped that the number of people listening had instantly doubled!

Frivolity aside, Geoff is relishing the freedom to go places by himself, especially morning bike riding and kayaking.

Geoff even spent some time behind the wheel on a recent attempted getaway to the coast. Alas, the COVID-19 restrictions brought us dashing back to Canberra to avoid the erroneously announced 14-day quarrantine. We discovered that although Geoff can manage a tricky 4WD track, double vision returns in the darkness so night driving defaults to me. Thankfully, we arrived safely home a few minutes before the midnight deadline, only to find that the government had reduced the quarantine areas and we could have stayed after all!