Left Field Neglect

the view from my easy chair
December 5, 2007
Out in left field
The stroke affected many muscles on the left side of my bodyinluding those in my eyes. I have what is known as left field neglect. I often don’t see objects that appear to my left.
At the table, i cant find my fork when it is placed to the left of my plate. If i have a tray of food before me i often don’t eat the food on the far left of the tray because i dont see it. When driving and i come to an intersection, my left peripheral vision is verypoor. i have to force myself to turn my head to see to the left, Sometimes this also affects my appearance.
One morning, i was ready to go to san gabriel school for my volunteer hours. I was already in the car, gilbert, my son, was behind the wheel when he turned to look at me.
“Dad, he says, you didnt shave the left side of your face.”
What? I say, so i grabthe rearview mirror and turn it towards me. Sure enough, my right side was cleanly shaven, but my left side was unshaven, full of whiskers and stubble. “oh my, i say, good thing you caught it before we got to san gabriel. I would have scared the kids. So i glumly wheel myself back into the house to shave the left side of my face. went back inside to finish shaving. That darn left field neglect.