I didn't really think it was a major disaster, just one of those icky things that happens once in a while.
My right eye felt like it had a lash in it.
We've all been through that. It will tear and eventually the lash will come out in the tears.
Or so I thought.
I went to bed, hoping that the tears would work their magic.
They didn't.
By morning, my head felt it would explode from the pain in my eye.
If I held my right eye closed, the left eye would stay open for a bit but then it would close too leaving me in my own world of blackness.
It was 6am and I should already be downstairs in the kitchen preparing to serve about 25 people breakfast. I stood up gingerly, trying not to move my head. My phone was ringing. I made my way to the phone and told my right hand kitchenperson I'd be down in a few minutes.
I remember whimpering, "There is something wrong and I don't know what to do.".
Throwing clothes on, I made my way downstairs while holding that eye closed.
Although common sense told me that my eye was firmly attached to the socket, I feared letting go of it for fear that it would roll onto the floor. Pain does funny things.
I tried to clear my head enough to make sense of the plan for the morning. We'd serve two meals instead of three. The volunteers had worked together long enough to know the routine. A neighbor offered to take me to the emergency room. An offer I gladly welcomed.
By the time we made it the four blocks to the hospital, the left eye gave up and refused to open. My neighbor, Jim, led me from the car to the waiting room. Jim crooned to me the entire time I was in the waiting room. "It's going to be okay. You'll be fine. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere.". I tried to tell him to go home and I'd call for a ride when they released me, but he wouldn't hear of it. "Dottie would kill me if I left you alone.", he said about his wife. Jim was true to his word. He was my knight in shining armor that morning.
Once in the examing room, it was determined that I had scratched the lens. The doctor ordered a salve to be squeezed into the eye and assured me that the scratch would heal, on it's own, in a few days. I don't mind saying that, at that moment, I was extremely dubious about that claim.
Enter Nurse Rachet!
I don't know her name, but I'll find out when I can really read again. In she came with the tube of salve. She applied the salve, walked to the doorway and told me to follow her so she could give me an eye exam.
Follow her??? I needed a guide dog to get me into the examing room.
So, holding my eye and praying my left eye would stay open, I wobbled to the area where they had the eye chart.
"Cover your right eye and find the line you can read without difficulty", she commanded.
My first instint was to just say, "E".
But, I gave it my best shot and read a line that looked good.
I know I blew it.
Then, she asked me to cover the left eye and read the chart.
The right eye, filled with salve, tearing, and not cooperating at all, gave up the ghost.
I admitted I couldn't read a letter on the chart.
"Do you wear glasses?", she asked.
"Yes.", said I.
"Well there is something up with your eyesight, you should see an eye doctor.", she proclaimed.
Something wrong with my eyesight? Ya think?
In her head, I could see her thinking...
She took me back to the examing room, handed me the salve, asked me to sign something then pointed to a spot around the corner from the desk and said, "that's the way out.".
Once home, I took a pain pill and went to bed. I had every intention of contacting the lady who was running the Arts and Crafts meeting to tell her I wouldn't be there at 1pm. I had a cart load of material I planned to bring to that meeting. It didn't happen. I slept until 3:30pm
Earlier in the week I arranged with Shop and Stock to be the contact person for the Karaoke entertainer for that evening. He had the check to pay him. My original plan was to be off site that evening at another meeting.
Sometime on Sunday, Shop and Stock 'remembered' that he wouldn't be there on Monday night. I remembered him telling me that at 3:30 on Monday afternoon. With the guy coming in three hours, I had to find someone who would organized the evening. I obviously wasn't making my meeting, but I wasn't making it for the entertainment either.
A few phone calls and that was done. Neither eye wanted to open and all I wanted to do was sleep.
Tuesday morning and afternoon were a blur. Then, a miracle. By Tuesday evening I could open my right eye without pain. By this morning, I could work in the shop, although my vision is still somewhat blurred.
I took this on Tuesday morning just to remind myself NEVER to rub my eye again. It is reversed, for some reason. All I could think of when I say it, was, "Ya ought to see the other guy!".
So, what happens while I'm listening to my TV on Monday? Anthony Weiner decides to fess up and tell the country that he lied about sending explicit photos of himself to people on Twitter. I admit that I wasn't suprised by this revelation. I gave him the benefit of the doubt because I really, really, really like this guy.
I so much wanted to post about this on Monday, but was helpless to do so.
I will in the next couple of days, but not quite up to it yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment