Eye Protection.

[psproule]

Have to share - have had a not-so fun end to the year... Sunday while pulling on bits of a vine we were removing in the garden one particularly tangled bit I was reefing on let go all of a sudden, rocketed towards me like a slingshot and whipped my left eyeball. I've never felt such intense pain, my vision in that eye went completely white, and my eye was clouded with blood. Wifey administered an ice pack and then rushed me to emergency at Queanbeyan Hospital. They got a doctor to me fairly quickly under the reduced holiday season staffing and he confirmed an internal bleed, a good scratch to my cornea and an unresponsive pupil. I still had no vision in the eye one hour later. He immediately referred me to on-call eye specialists at the Canberra Hospital, suggested I would end up in theatre and sent us packing to Woden. An hour later two senior eye specialists thoroughly examined my eye at which point vision began to return - a very good sign obviously. The internal bleed had stopped but my pupil was still unresponsive. My retina was not detatched or otherwise damaged. I was sent home with painkillers, homeatropine and antibiotics with an order for strict bed rest under the concern that any exertion might cause a further bleed. Today I returned for a further exam (four doctors had a thorough look no-less!)and they have confirmed that along with the bleed I have torn muscles that control the iris. However they expect this to heal OK, but perhaps not fully. The corneal scratch is healing and the blood in my eye is slowly dissipating. My vision is still very blurry and with the blown pupil it is very sensitive to light. A side concern is that my left eye is my good eye, with a mild Keratoconus in my right (mis-shapen cornea) that stops it from focusing properly, even with glasses. So for two days everything has been a blur.

But I'm lucky - it looks like I will regain proper vision. It could have been a lot worse. Moral of the story of course is to wear eye protection. Simple but so often overlooked. Even if I had been wearing my sunnies I would have avoided this. A couple of days without vision gives one lots of time to ponder what could have happened, and how much we rely on our faculties not only for ourselves but in order to support our families.

Keep it safe out there, and much kudos to the docs & nurses at Queanbeyan and Canberra Hospitals - fantastic levels of care by all.

Cheers - Pat

[kerway]

Well said Pat,
It's amazing how the simple, easily done accidents can cause a lot of issues.
Glad everything is getting better. It's a good reminder for everyone to be careful. I have a mate who had just recently retired from a life time of climbing power poles with no incidents , to fall off a ladder while washing his caravan. Numerous operations later for broken things and to clean up the golden staph he collected in hospital and he's finally back on his feet.
Hope your recovery keeps on track.

kerway

[Bundyk]

Sounds like you were very lucky Pat, could have definitely been worse. Glad to see you are on the mend.

Its very good advice you give. Eye protection is probably on everyone's mind at work (where needed obviously), but most likely over looked at home. This just goes to show how easily things can happen.

I wish you all the best for a speedy recovery Pat.

[Pickle]

Pat, thought I might have to put you on my Pirate list, so glad to hear that the eye will be coming good . Have a safe New Year matey!
Dave

[Goodsy]

Funny but not so funny I use to wear safety glasses at work because I had to.
At home well safety slipped. Until I got a piece of swarf stuck in my eye.
Being a "man" I put up with it until the pain got to me.
Eye doctor tried the first (digger). Ping ping ping nothing.
I'm sorry but you require a eye patch after this one.
No as he said I had to dig a hole but it's when the anuthetic wore off and the digging of a hole in my eye now hurted. A LOT!

Bit worse than bad welders flash in one eye.

Eye protection guys. I'm serious!!!!

[GHendo]

Good to hear it's a happy ending Pat.

I recently got a bit of crap in my eye while slashing with the tractor. I ended up with a corneal ulcer and the doctor had to scrape the crap off my eye. Guess what, now I wear bloody goggles while slashing. It only has to happen once and you get the message.

The trouble is these things happen when you least expect them. You could have done what you were doing a million times and nothing has happened.

Good luck with it healing 100%.

Geoff

[m_and_m]

I too hope you a speedy recovery Pat.

I scared the out of me when I flicked into my eye that red stuff you use to prime sewer pipe before glueing it.
Under the tap within seconds, and off to the docs.

Recovered ok after a few days, but a heck of a scare.

Still, it can happen even when you least expect it. 1 month ago I was mowing the lawn and a bit of bark flicked out, ricocheted, and hit me 1cm below my eye. Lucky!
I mean, who thinks to wear eye protection when mowing? Whipper snipping yes, but mowing?!

[Goodsy]

I think we all do now!

[Alex86]

Bolle make good safeties that also double as sunnies.... When I remember I wear eye protection when doing odd jobs.

[psproule]

Thanks for the well wishes folks. I'll check out those Bolle's as I was after a pair like that. Will be buying some for the whole family since we are doing a lot around the property.

Thanks - Pat.

[Nivo]

Know just how you feel Pat. When I was a kid I got hit in the eye by a rock which we were throwing at each other as kids do. Eye filled up with blood and I had to spend a week in hospital with a patch on to rest the eye. It made a full recovery. Young fella down the road wasn't so lucky and lost the sight in one of his eyes the same way.

A few years later a piece of a broken drill hit my other eye when working at home. Went very close to losing that one and have a scar in front of my pupil that requires me to wear glasses.

All the best with your recovery. It does pay to wear sunny's even when doing work around the home.

Cheers
Nivo

[psychster]

I've stopped using normal sunnies and have been using nothing but Bolle safety sunnies for the last few years. When the pair I have now are broken or lost, I'll buy the same model again.

[Nab]

I don't own any sunnies anymore, only tinted safety glasses. Around $25-30 from my electrical supplier and they do some cool designs to fit big heads like mine...

[Stevie-Ray]

I don't own any sunnies anymore, only tinted safety glasses. Around $25-30 from my electrical supplier and they do some cool designs to fit big heads like mine...

I've stopped using normal sunnies and have been using nothing but Bolle safety sunnies for the last few years. When the pair I have now are broken or lost, I'll buy the same model again.

Just curious to know whether those have a UV-filter? Could be damaging your eyes if they don't!

[Stevie-Ray]

My ex's late father was very old-school & regarded safety-gear as unnecessary annoyances & would ridicule me for wearing ear-muffs/plugs, face-masks, & safety-glasses over my spectacles, & once even gleefully smashed up a sheet of asbestos in front of my face as we removed part of a gable to add a pergola. Sadly my late father-in-law regularly had eye ulcerations, & was half deaf, when he died from lung-cancer a few yrs ago

After putting a deep scratch across a pair of my specs yrs ago while in the garage, I realised how lucky I was to have not lost an eye, but unlucky because if I'd been wearing my safety-glasses on top I needn't have had to go buy new specs at the time!
As one ages the specs become more pricier, so it's as much protecting them as well as one's precious eyes, especially as I've just paid a motza for a new multi-focal pair, that correct my stygmatism & myopia, & are for the 1st time transition-lenses which solve the problem of a lack of sunglasses!

Even I'm paying the price for breathing in metal & acid fumes while working as a jeweller when I was younger, with chronic bronchial problems (along the other health problems), so no matter how '10ft-tall & bulletproof' we may feel, heed the advice of those that are older & wiser!