A neurologist referred Sarah to an eye doctor specializing in brain injuries
By WBAY news staff
Published: Jul. 12, 2023 at 6:14 AM CDT|Updated: Jul. 12, 2023 at 6:27 PM CDT
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - There’s some encouraging news to pass along regarding our colleague, Action 2 News Anchor Sarah Thomsen.
Sarah has been out of work since May of last year after suffering a severe concussion in a car crash, a crash in which police cited the other driver for causing.
We sat down with Sarah this week to talk about the new hope she has in what’s been a long road to recovery.
“I miss not knowing everything that’s going on, you know I’m always the one that has to know everything first,” says Sarah about missing her job as a news anchor and reporter.
It’s been 14 months now since Sarah last reported a story. And over that time, she kept hoping for progress that never seemed to come.
“I would see little bits of improvement and that’s what my doctors would ask me, they’re like oh are you feeling better, I’m like better than the last time I saw you a couple weeks ago, I don’t think so, but if you look back, better than three months ago, better than six months ago, yeah I guess, but super slow, way slower than I ever expected, I mean I thought last year when we talked in September, I thought by the holidays I’ll be back,” recalls Sarah.
This past spring, despite continuing concussion symptoms, Sarah was determined to try and come back to work for a few hours a day, and work behind the scenes in the newsroom.
“And that was horrible,” explains Sarah.
The dizziness, headaches and nausea not only persisted, but worsened. Returning to work proved to be too much for Sarah’s brain injury to handle.
“Walking in the newsroom, with all those TVs everywhere, everything on a different channel and different motion, people standing, sitting, people going like this, taking with their hands,” says Sarah.
In May, Sarah sought the opinion of a neurologist, who then referred her to an eye doctor specializing in post-concussion symptoms. Within just minutes of testing her eyes, Sarah sensed hope.
“Instantly it mimicked all my symptoms, and I was like whoa what just happened, this is the first time I found something, because I’ve never found the pattern, for a year I couldn’t find the pattern of what was triggering it and I didn’t know what it was,” says Sarah of that doctor appointment.
Sarah’s doctor explained to her the likely problem.
“This eye basically doesn’t work like it’s supposed to anymore,” explains Sarah.
In essence, since the car crash and concussion, damage to her right eye means her two eyes are working against each other, causing her brain to work overtime.
“They said my brain is taking every ounce of power it has just go get my eyes to try to focus and try to work, that there’s nothing left cognitively, and nothing left for finding words, that’s why I can’t find words all the time or why I call a tree a doughnut,” says Sarah.
On Monday, Sarah started wearing specialized glasses her doctor believes will help in her recovery.
“They have prisms in them that is supposed to keep this eye going where it’s supposed to and not letting it trail off, it’s very weird because my kids put my glasses on for a minute and look through them and they’re like mom, it’s the same, nothing looks different, but when I put them on it’s like a whole new world,” says Sarah with a smile.
Sarah cautions though, the glasses are just part of the fix. She needs to continue with speech and physical therapy and will soon undergo GyroStim treatment. Still, the initial results from the glasses are very encouraging.
“I haven’t been nearly as dizzy in the last 24 hours as I have been in a year,” says Sarah.
“So, we caught you on a good day?” I ask.
“You did catch me on a good day, let’s hope tomorrow is this good,” responds Sarah.
I then ask, “And you only see one of me?”
“I only see one of you, that’s enough,” says Sarah breaking out in laughter.
Now that her feisty sense of humor is back, Sarah is confident she’ll be able to reunite with her WBAY family in the coming months.
“I will be back; I finally feel like I will actually be somewhat normal again at some point and be able to work again and do my job again. I feel like maybe the light is at the end of the tunnel, it’s way down there but I think it’s coming,” says Sarah. “And it’s not blurry?” I ask. “I can see it,” says Sarah with a smile.
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