In the Eye of the Beholder

You know how sometimes you're just walking along and something hits you? Oftentimes, it is a figurative experience, a WOW moment. On Tuesday, it was a literal experience for Mike. He was walking along the sidewalk in Boston and he got hit by a strong gust of wind. Apparently it was a doozie. Immediately afterward, he felt like he was stabbed in the eye.

By the time he got home a few hours later, he was in significant pain. He's had a problem with inward curling eyelashes for a couple of years. They grow in toward his eye and scratch the cornea. It is very irritating, but he has formulated a system of locating and removing the offending hairs. This time he wasn't able to find any pokers. He looked for at least an hour throughout the night.

We headed to CVS and he stocked up on a few varieties of Genteal. After many applications and no alleviation of pain, we went to bed, where he was unable to sleep due to pain. Mike's eye was red, bloodshot and swollen by Wednesday morning. Phrases like "horrible pain" and "emergency room" became his refrain on the way into work. He decided to call Beetham Eye Center at Joslins Diabetes Center and speak with the on-call doctor. The doctor thought he should be seen, so we detoured directly to One Joslin Place and walked into the clinic at 7:50 am.

Beetham stuck to their normal routine and Mike was first seen by an optometrist. She attempted to have him read the chart and took a look into his eye. He couldn't read the chart and was in so much discomfort from the fluorescent lights that they had to be turned off. The doctor gave him a numbing drop for his eye. It apparently stung but brought nearly instant relief for the pain. The good news was that there were no foreign objects. We went to the dilation waiting room until the ophthalmologist could do an examination.

Upon examination by the ophthalmologist, we learned that Mike had a severe corneal abrasion. From what we can tell, that big wind gust in Boston blew a piece of grit or dirt into Mike's eye. He wiped his eye to get it out and ended up scratching his cornea -- badly. The treatment was broached; Mike was prescribed antibiotic cream that the doctor would put in his eye. A patch would cover the eye until the next day so the eye would be immobilized and have a chance to heal.

All patched up

We were to return on Thursday to see Mike's regular ophthalmologist for a follow-up. It was going to be a long day. Mike wanted to return to work for some meetings. We headed home after his meetings so he could get some rest. It was more comfortable to have both eyes closed that only one with no depth perception. The pain was still intense. He did some research and learned that corneal abrasions are among the most painful injuries one can have. Women have described it as more painful that childbirth.

Mike got some much-needed sleep on Wednesday night and we returned to Beetham on Thursday. The doctor said the eye was healing and he should add antibiotic drops to his treatment plan, followed by application of the antibiotic cream to the unpatched eye (4x a day).

Still not out of the woods, but getting better

Mike returned home Thursday to rest and recover. He is on his way to feeling better. He'll see a corneal specialist from Massachusetts Eye and Ear on Wednesday to determine if there was permanent damage to the cornea; we're told that there shouldn't be, but it is best to check.

Who knew a little walk could be so dangerous?