"You're really pretty lucky, the blade only cut into the surface of your eye. It did manage to remove the skin from half of your actual eyeball, but it looks like your vision will be OK.” Those were actual words spoken to me from Dr. Michael from Kremer Eye Center here outside of Philadelphia.
See, over the weekend, my left eye had a run in with the business-end of a scissor blade as I reached across my face with an open pair of scissors. It was like the lights in my world went out. Everything just went black. I ended up (trying) watching local UFC fighter Eddie Alvarez get TKO’d (KO’d?) by Irish superstar, Conor McGregor through one hazy, blurry eye while writhing in pain on my couch. I think I listened more than I really watched, but my mind wasn’t really there. Eye injuries hurt like the devil.
It was Saturday night around 9pm and I didn’t want just any technician, interim doctor, or jack-of-all-trades ER Dr. hacking and cutting into my eye so I opted for some drugs I had laying around the house from previous prescriptions and gutted my way through Saturday night and a long, arduous Sunday. Monday my wonderful wife called a local eye care clinic the very moment they opened and got us first in line to have this thing fixed with one of the best doctors in the state (probably in the nation, I think.)
I’m a pretty visual guy, my business depends on it. I’m a photographer, a video guy, a visual artist or sorts. I need my eyes working pretty well. On account of the fact that I’m writing this post, I’m doing pretty well now a few days after the injury and surgery (I think it was surgical? It seemed pretty no-big-deal from Doc, though.) I am still wearing an eye patch and taking some pretty annoying eye drops every few hours, but I’m not blind, heck, my vision will not even be affected by the injury. It was, after all, only skin deep.
The past few days without eyesight (I was unable to open/use my eyes from Saturday until Tuesday evening) have given me a newfound appreciation of how important they are and really how much I just took them for granted. I also have immense respect for doctors who have the skills and wrist control to gently correct a surface like your eyeball without causing additional damage. Wow.
As I begin getting my eyesight back I am dreaming of answering emails, lining up my next photoshoot, sending my next batch of orders off to the printer, writing a contract, heck, let me wash some dishes or do the laundry, really anything that lets me know everything is back, working fine, and pain-free.
Eyes, man. They’re pretty important. Keep scissors away from them.