left side hemianopsia

[EnIXmA]

Iam a 24 year old student who was involved in a major car accident last year. I was in the i.c.u for more than a week and many ppl still believes it as a miracle that I survived both the accident and the brain injuries after the accident. I suffered from two strokes, a cut in the spleen, a fully damaged liver and intense swelling in the throat due to prolonged use of breathing tubes. Steroids were used to reduce the swelling in both the brain and throat.

details of my accident
http://www.thespec.com/news/article/415797

Its been almost one year now and i havent seen any improvement in the left visual field loss...I still do lots of scanning to overcome it, but it doesnt seem to be a permanent solution. Sometimes It just concerns me as I would be going back to school in September to finish the leftover courses.
Will I ever be able to drive again?....Am I going to live the rest of my life with blindness in my left vision?....My doctor said it takes a min. of 2 years for the optic nerve to heal but i red some articles stating that most hemianopsia does not resolve...I have done some research on Nova vision but it only helps ppl who have holes in their vision as opposed to a complete hemianopsia.....What should i do?

[tabbycat89]

Wow that car is completely smashed! How can you still want to drive after that happened to you? :-(

I had vision loss from my accident, but it wasn't a whole side, it was periphrial and in the center. I did this thing called "vision therapy" with my eye doctor, it was boring as hell but it did make my blindspots smaller. It's worth a shot isn't it? You could talk to a doctor about it and see if they think it would help.

After my accident I got a driving evaluation from a doctor, you have to do a bunch of vision tests and then you drive with them and they will tell you if you need certain acommodations like special mirrors and things like that.

[EnIXmA]

the only reason I wanna drive again is that I dont wanna be dependent on my family/friends all the time...plus I dont remember anything from the accident so I dont have any fear from the crash

I m gonna try Novavision therapy soon...thats the only option left i guess

[craz4u3]

I agree with tabbycat's advice. Try vision therapy - it works. My son was it by a car 16 months ago, suffered brain trauma, broken bones, etc. His vision was also severly affected, but not to the degree that yours was. He did vision therapy for 6 months, 2x a week, and worked on it at home too. Then we took him to a driving school that had been recommended by the doctor at vision therapy. The driving instructor specialized in evaluating people who had suffered any kind of injury that would affect their driving abilities. The instructor took my son out in the car and made some recommendations. A couple of months later, we all agreed he was ready to drive on his own and he's been doing fine. My son hated being dependent on others for rides, so driving again was very important to him, as it seems to be to you. Good luck!