"If you love them;protect them"......

[Ray S]

  Haven't had a real good week health-wise. Started it off by breaking a couple of toes while stumbling to the bathroom half asleep and kicking a wooden room divider that was strategically positioned in the doorway. I have now broken all five toes on that foot(the other three were done in by dropping a piece of 3/4 inch signboard on them while wearing sandals).
   Had to drive my wife into the hospital the other night for a sleep disorder evaluation and by the time I got back home it was near midnight.Decided to do a little work in the shop finishing up a set of handles I was making for a knife I had recently rescued from the throes of cel out-gassing.
   While grinding the plastic(and wearing a good pair of safety glasses)a piece of the plastic flew off and somehow got up under the glasses and lodged in my eye. After several futile attempts to dislodge it(and putting a nice scratch in the cornea)I drove to the local hospital and with a little luck they managed to remove it.I was told I would have to wear a patch for several days and apply generous amounts of antibiotics until I could see my eye doctor. They also refused to put on the patch as I was driving myself home and they would only do it if someone else drove me(liability issues I guess).
   Got home and put on the patch and thought about how I was going to drive the 35 or so miles to pick up my wife in the morning.Decided to leave a little early as normally it is at least an hour's drive.
   Let me say that if you have never tried driving with one eye closed(in this case covered)in the dark with patches of fog here and there I would suggest DO NOT! It is a challenge! To those who only have the sight of one eye I have nothing but respect for you.
   Somehow I managed to get there only to find the test was running long so I had a couple hours to kill. By this time the anesthetic they had used on my eye to work on it was wearing off and it started to throb very painfully.
   My wife wasn't really up to driving home so I wound up driving back in the now daylight and considerably more traffic. We finally made it.
   I have been resting up a bit for the past couple days and it will be Tuesday before I can get into the doctor's.Fortunately the pain has subsided somewhat and is bearable.
   In conclusion I would only say that if you value your eyesight make sure you have a good pair of safety glasses and make sure they fit properly.Mine were and it still got underneath them. Hopefully the damage isn't permanent as there isn't a good deal of call for a one eyed sign artist.

[SteveC]

Ouch Ray sorry to hear that. I hope you heal quickly !     


I narrowly escaped  injury on friday. I was reinforcing a fence that had gotten blown down in heavy wind. Tying it back to some stakes. I was trying to untie a stubborn knot I had made because the line wasn't as tight as I wanted. I was pulling towards me when my hand slipped and I managed to stick my thumb full force into the upper corner of my eye socket just missing my eyeball and catching the underside of my brow bone. Hurt like hell but would have been really bad if a little bit over. Safety glasses would have helped but who puts on safety glasses to tie rope 

[zoidberg]

Friday, finger nail on ring finger, caught/bent it back double and wrecked it good.
Bleed like a tap, still had half an hour to go so I wrapped it up in my shirt tail.
Yesterday, went to use the grinder, remembered all the chatter here lately about being safe so went and found my safety glasses.

Heal quick Ray.

Steve, I do stuff like that way too often, always hoping nobody saw it happen.

[David]

Oooouch Ray, Steve and Zman. Hope yawl heal up quickly.

[comis]

Ray, sorry to hear about your eye, and hope you will get well soon!  And thank you for taking the time to share the story and let us learn! 


Steve, do take care too!  I do that once in a while, and luckily I have my glasses on, so it kinda take care of it.  I don't know whether it may help, but nowadays, I tried to do all most of the lifting/pulling with legs or back, so I don't have to move my arms as much(if that make any sense).

[Aloha]

Ray I'm so sorry this happened to you.  Heal up quick I also hope your wife's evaluation turns out well. 

[Gerhard Gerber]

Hi Ray

Firstly, sorry to hear and hope you heal up soon!

Secondly, nice to put a face to the name, but you look nothing like I expected   

   Let me say that if you have never tried driving with one eye closed(in this case covered)in the dark with patches of fog here and there I would suggest DO NOT! It is a challenge! To those who only have the sight of one eye I have nothing but respect for you.
   

I have tried for the simple reason the owner of a company I worked for lost an eye as a child, and he drove like a madman in his big Audi all over this country.
After covering one eye briefly at highway speeds I felt fortunate I never spent andy time in the car with him 

[Barry Rowland]

Ray, great wisdom!  I'm glad you were able to get to the hospital and get that piece of plastic removed before it caused irreparable damage.  You seem to have my luck regarding things that wander in your way at night

Steve, be careful buddy!  We've got a lot of miles left on these frames before our overhaul!

[AimlessWanderer]

Sounds like you've been having a rough time there, Ray. Sadly I can relate too easily.

As to the vision, different parts of me work at different times. Sometimes both eyes behave, but sometimes it's just one or the other. New glasses haven't helped either. I've had a patch on my right eye all day, trying to coak my left eye into cooperationg with the new reading prescription, but not having a lot of success. Sadly many of my issues are in the brainstem, and that adds an extra level of complecity to trying to manage and correct things (and I have balance, migraine, fainting, and cognitive issues too - all occurring at different times). Unfortunately, wearing the patch is also giving me brain strain, and every few hours I'm having to lie down for a couple of hours for a snooze and brain reboot, which then affects sleeping at night. 

As to the eye injury, sadly that's all too common. A lot of eye injuries that occurred in engineering shops I worked at, were folks who had been wearing safety glasses at the time. Turnings bouncing off their cheek or forehead, then bouncing off the inside of the glasses into their eye. The only two PPE (personal protective equipment) options which that wouldn't happen on, were goggles - which were prone to fogging, and full face visors - which were prone to glare, both of which eliminated one risk, but added worse ones.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery