Monday Medicine
Last night I was sewing a patch onto my backpack. Simple thing, just for kicks. And the needle broke. And flew up into my eye. I thought I closed it fast enough, it didn't really hurt, just a little irritated. Went to bed. A couple hours later, I am up with a mildly stinging eye that hurts more when my eye is closed. It was kind of like having a large piece of sand that wouldn't wash out. By about 6 I can fall asleep again. I sleep till almost 10. My eye doesn't really hurt! Until I'm up a few minutes and I feel it being a little whiny again.
So I call. The first place (found through the health insurance website) claims they don't take my insurance. (thanks?) so I call my pcp office. They want me to come in, but I know they can't do anything for me but look with light. If it's the nurse I usually get stuck with, she'll say I'm fine even if it's not strictly speaking true. Anyone else may just send me to see someone else. I don't need a federal, so I ask them who they send people to. I get a name and number, and then an appointment for 2 with someone at the Somerville hospital. I go to work, and leave 2 hours later and hit the hospital. I've not heard much good about the Somerville hospital, but the 3 people I interacted with were all good (receptionist, nurse/assistant, doctor).
Apparently, my eyes are in great shape and my vision is great. And don't worry, that gouge is really tiny and didn't pierce the cornea, wow that's quite a gouge don't worry, it's small, that's quite long and deep, don't worry, the cornea heals fast so it'll be healed in 2 days, it's so deep you should come in next week just to make sure it's healed properly, etc. Mixed response from the doctor makes me think he expected it to be much smaller and it's possible something will go wrong, but not likely. He told me to make an appointment for Monday and take some antibiotic eye drops. I went across the street to get lunch (at 4. yay!) at yummy hut (yay sketchy chinese food!) waited till I could read to drive back. Lights were a little bright and I was still bug eyed, but I could see again. Went to practice, still slightly blurry at the edges.
By now, it only occasionally stings a little, so I think it's healing and going to be fine. This was the first time my vision was actually consistently blurry, rather than just letting me rub my eyes and get my focus back or something. Made me think I am not nice enough to my friends/family with vision problems, but it was short enough to just be novel to me. I wondered if the guy at the chinese restaurant thought i was illiterate. The possibility of the eye drops I've heard so much about was why I went to somewhere near home where I could walk back if it was too bad rather than somewhere near work.
Amusingly, the first place I called, which wouldn't take my insurance, had me on file... living where I think I was living when I was 1. I'm not sure if I'm impressed or disturbed.
To top off all the real excitement, I almost hit my first squirrel going to work yesterday. It just froze right in front of me. Usually I'm going at rush hour and the road kill is already there or they don't get a chance to start across.
Sometimes I try to think about life without hands vs without eyes. I think hands win, but it's close enough I hope I never get to find out with either.
So I call. The first place (found through the health insurance website) claims they don't take my insurance. (thanks?) so I call my pcp office. They want me to come in, but I know they can't do anything for me but look with light. If it's the nurse I usually get stuck with, she'll say I'm fine even if it's not strictly speaking true. Anyone else may just send me to see someone else. I don't need a federal, so I ask them who they send people to. I get a name and number, and then an appointment for 2 with someone at the Somerville hospital. I go to work, and leave 2 hours later and hit the hospital. I've not heard much good about the Somerville hospital, but the 3 people I interacted with were all good (receptionist, nurse/assistant, doctor).
Apparently, my eyes are in great shape and my vision is great. And don't worry, that gouge is really tiny and didn't pierce the cornea, wow that's quite a gouge don't worry, it's small, that's quite long and deep, don't worry, the cornea heals fast so it'll be healed in 2 days, it's so deep you should come in next week just to make sure it's healed properly, etc. Mixed response from the doctor makes me think he expected it to be much smaller and it's possible something will go wrong, but not likely. He told me to make an appointment for Monday and take some antibiotic eye drops. I went across the street to get lunch (at 4. yay!) at yummy hut (yay sketchy chinese food!) waited till I could read to drive back. Lights were a little bright and I was still bug eyed, but I could see again. Went to practice, still slightly blurry at the edges.
By now, it only occasionally stings a little, so I think it's healing and going to be fine. This was the first time my vision was actually consistently blurry, rather than just letting me rub my eyes and get my focus back or something. Made me think I am not nice enough to my friends/family with vision problems, but it was short enough to just be novel to me. I wondered if the guy at the chinese restaurant thought i was illiterate. The possibility of the eye drops I've heard so much about was why I went to somewhere near home where I could walk back if it was too bad rather than somewhere near work.
Amusingly, the first place I called, which wouldn't take my insurance, had me on file... living where I think I was living when I was 1. I'm not sure if I'm impressed or disturbed.
To top off all the real excitement, I almost hit my first squirrel going to work yesterday. It just froze right in front of me. Usually I'm going at rush hour and the road kill is already there or they don't get a chance to start across.
Sometimes I try to think about life without hands vs without eyes. I think hands win, but it's close enough I hope I never get to find out with either.