A night of being blind
My left eye has had a tough week.
Last Friday, I took 4 stitches above it due to a camping accident.
Less than a week later, on Thursday night, I was working in the woodshop getting some stuff made for the vanity. Some sawdust/shavings blew off the piece of wood I was holding, hit the airflow from the shopvac and blew under my safety glasses into my eye.
After repeated attempts to flush the debris failed, I concluded it was time to head to the ER (again). This was getting old.
When you have an eye injury, you need to cover both eyes in order to avoid more damage. This is because both eyes move together, so the covered eye will still move around if you have one eye uncovered. Covering both minimizes movement, thereby decreasing additional damage.
So, I put on a blindfold at the house and got into Pam's car. I figured that if nothing else, this would be a good way to experience what it's like to be blind. I didn't think there was any really serious damage to my eye, and wanted to salvage what I could from the evening.
The drive to the ER was interesting. I knew the route pretty well, and was able to keep track of where we were very accurately. The cues were very different - how bumpy the road is, have we gone over the railroad tracks, hills, stop lights. Even more interesting was that I did not find it particularly difficult to focus. This was interesting to me since I have noted a diminished ability in this area due to age and/or stress. Perhaps spending more time meditating would be useful?
After Pam parked the car, we walked from the parking lot to where the receptionist was. Pam did a pretty good job of directing me - at least I didn't hit anything. Useful lessons here: tell me what is coming up and how soon (e.g., "straight for 50 feet, then a step"). Pam was telling me only when something came up, so I could not relax and just walk - always had to be ready for something.
I checked in with the receptionist, then Pam led me to the seating area. (The receptionist offered a wheelchair, but I declined.) We walked over to Triage, and got checked in. Lesson here was that since I could not see the person, it was spooky since I did not know anything about them. I just said "and your name is?", and they told me their name. So, since blind people can't see what is happening, I thought it was reassuring to have a verbal flow of information to help me understand what is happening.
In the "eye room", we waited for a little while. I liked that Pam described the room to me, so that I had a better feel for where I was. When I needed to sit down, it was better for me if Pam put my hand on the chair, instead of making me feel around for it and feel silly in the process.
After being "blind" for about an hour, the doctor came in and removed the blindfold. It was a miracle, I could see again! Oh, wait - I was not really blind...
The doctor told me that I had scratched my cornea, and gave me some eyedrops. One of them really dialates the eye, making me look a little freaky on Friday. The side effect of the dialation is that the vision from the left eye is really blurry - that was actually more disturbing, until I realized what was happening.
In a few more days, I should be back to 100%. That, of course, assumes no more accidents!
Last Friday, I took 4 stitches above it due to a camping accident.
Less than a week later, on Thursday night, I was working in the woodshop getting some stuff made for the vanity. Some sawdust/shavings blew off the piece of wood I was holding, hit the airflow from the shopvac and blew under my safety glasses into my eye.
After repeated attempts to flush the debris failed, I concluded it was time to head to the ER (again). This was getting old.
When you have an eye injury, you need to cover both eyes in order to avoid more damage. This is because both eyes move together, so the covered eye will still move around if you have one eye uncovered. Covering both minimizes movement, thereby decreasing additional damage.
So, I put on a blindfold at the house and got into Pam's car. I figured that if nothing else, this would be a good way to experience what it's like to be blind. I didn't think there was any really serious damage to my eye, and wanted to salvage what I could from the evening.
The drive to the ER was interesting. I knew the route pretty well, and was able to keep track of where we were very accurately. The cues were very different - how bumpy the road is, have we gone over the railroad tracks, hills, stop lights. Even more interesting was that I did not find it particularly difficult to focus. This was interesting to me since I have noted a diminished ability in this area due to age and/or stress. Perhaps spending more time meditating would be useful?
After Pam parked the car, we walked from the parking lot to where the receptionist was. Pam did a pretty good job of directing me - at least I didn't hit anything. Useful lessons here: tell me what is coming up and how soon (e.g., "straight for 50 feet, then a step"). Pam was telling me only when something came up, so I could not relax and just walk - always had to be ready for something.
I checked in with the receptionist, then Pam led me to the seating area. (The receptionist offered a wheelchair, but I declined.) We walked over to Triage, and got checked in. Lesson here was that since I could not see the person, it was spooky since I did not know anything about them. I just said "and your name is?", and they told me their name. So, since blind people can't see what is happening, I thought it was reassuring to have a verbal flow of information to help me understand what is happening.
In the "eye room", we waited for a little while. I liked that Pam described the room to me, so that I had a better feel for where I was. When I needed to sit down, it was better for me if Pam put my hand on the chair, instead of making me feel around for it and feel silly in the process.
After being "blind" for about an hour, the doctor came in and removed the blindfold. It was a miracle, I could see again! Oh, wait - I was not really blind...
The doctor told me that I had scratched my cornea, and gave me some eyedrops. One of them really dialates the eye, making me look a little freaky on Friday. The side effect of the dialation is that the vision from the left eye is really blurry - that was actually more disturbing, until I realized what was happening.
In a few more days, I should be back to 100%. That, of course, assumes no more accidents!
posted by Aras at 8:06 AM
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