Spidermonkeys trip to the E.R.

[spidermonkey]

Monday morning I'm driving to a jobsite in my worktruck which has the typical large truck side mirrors that stick out pretty far. I see another truck with a landscaping trailor coming the opposite way. The handles from lawn equipment were sticking out over the side of the trailor. The minute we passed each other one of the lawnmower handles hit my side view mirror and the glass exploded and flew into my face. One peice of glass cut my eye from the beginning of the scalera (white part of eye) all the way through to the back of my eye and stopped just short of the optical nerve. An ambulance brought me to the e.r. and soon after I was brought to a nearby surgury center for a 4 hour long surgury. I now have stitches in my eyelball and little cuts all over my face. The opthamologist says I have about an 80% chance that my vison will be normal after everything is healed. So far its just a big blur. Pain killers aren't doing much of anything and I have two different kinds of eye drops that my wife has to put in every hour and both of them burn like hell. Of all the injuries one could get the last thing I would want to lose is eye sight so I'm kinda scared. Keeping my fingers crossed. I told my boss that before I even think about getting back into that truck I want the sideview mirrors to be replaced with either acrylic mirrors or the kind that are made out of metal (like the metal mirrors in the mens locker rooms in highschool). He agreed to do so and the truck is now at a glass shop having custom mirrors made for it. I think all truck side mirrors should at least be made out of tempered or safetyglass as I'm sure I'm not the only one this has happened to.
Sorry for the long outcry but I'm just trying to keep myself busy.    My wife has been yelling at me because I was back on my computer and checking out these message boards probably about 36 hours after my surgury instead of relaxing. If I'm not healthy enough to work on one of my cabs then I have to atleast read and talk about doing it here.

[DrewKaree]

Dude, not meaning to give you something to read, but being back on here ISN'T the best thing you can do....watch some TV or something that doesn't require you to move your eyes back and forth as you read a thread...also, I've heard it's a common occurence for people to not blink as much while online, which is why your eyes burn from not being wetted as often.

GO AWAY UNTIL YOU'RE BETTER!  We'll still be here, and your sight may be needed to spot some of our mistakes in the future.  GO!  You heard me!  Go on....GIT!

[J_K_M_A_N]

I *WAS* going to post a question about "is there any worse pain than a toothache" but I don't feel the need to ask that anymore. Although, I *DO* have one KILLER toothache. I have never felt pain like this from a tooth before. I went to the dentist last Wednesday and she couldn't see anyting but she is setting me up with an endodontic. The only good thing is that she gave me a prescription for vicodin es. That does help. Good luck Spidermonkey. I am with you. My eyesight is the LAST thing I want to loose. I want to get laser surgery on my eyes but am too nervous. I hope you get FULL sight back.

J_K_M_A_N

[GameDork]

Did the guy driving the other truck stop??? Is your employer paying for your Dx bills?

Good luck!!

[GGKoul]

Good Luck!

[spidermonkey]

 Thanks for the support everyone.  GameDork, the helper I had riding with me said that he saw the guy hit his brake lights but when my helper got out of the truck and waved him over to talk to him the driver then took off ! Thank God everything will be covered under workmans comp since I now have enough problems to deal with. Still no improvment with my eyesight but my doctor says its still too early to tell. My wife just put my eye drops in about a half hour ago. She then looked at my eye with a penlight to check for any signs of infection.(She's an R.N.) She then said that it looked a bit more red then yesterday but it could just be bloodshot from lack of sleep. A couple minutes later I caught her crying but trying to hide it so that she doesn't scare me anymore then I already am. If the redness increases I'm going to page my doctor and ask him what I should do.  This whole situation really stinks. Its like a friggin nightmare. I wish I could rewind my life back to last Sunday night and start over.  
Thanks again for everyones support. Maybe tomorrow I'll finally see some improvement.

[Crazy Cooter]

Tough break man.  I wouldn't worry about it too much, just give it some time.  I manage to get busted up all the time and pull through.  Just do as the Doc says and it'll work out.  Your wife is just worried.  80% see completely normal, most of the others I'm sure can get by with glasses.  You already know your not blind so grab a cold 6 pack and wash down a couple vicodin.  You'll feel much better

[DrewKaree]

HOLY CRAP  

Something I just remembered being asked, and a question my wife had to answer on a medical questionaire before having an MRI....I dunno if that mirror had ANY metal particles in it, and if anyone else reads this, REMEMBER THIS!....if you have any metal flecks/specks/dots/whatevers in your eye, MAKE SURE TO LET THEM KNOW BEFORE THEY DO AN MRI!  

If you're a welder, you can almost bank on having to have some different procedure done, as it's a common thing....I was told the magnetic field produced by the MRI machine WILL pull out the metal particles from your eye.  A cut FROM THE INSIDE!  

I'm not a doctor and don't know all the ramifications of it, but REMEMBER what I'm saying.  My wife thought it was an odd question "Am I a welder, or work with metal?  I'm a WOMAN!" she said.  Now you have some information to ask about if you have an MRI

[danny_galaga]

in a couple of days, when you NEXT check your messages this is a get well message from down under

[Mr. Dude]

Oh man!!!  Anything to do with eye injuries makes my stomach flop.  I can't imagine how scary and painful that'd be.  I hope you get better real soon man!

[ChadTower]

I can't believe that guy ran!  Actually, yes I can.  People are SHITHEADS.  I sure hope you have some way to ID that guy's truck to the cops... clearly you wouldn't have seen it, but maybe your coworker did.  That guy's negligence was a crime.

[Luxury]

Sorry to hear that Spidermonkey!

A friend of mine just recently had 2 seperate operations on his eyes because of a problem with his diabetes.  He couldn't see for 2 months, and everything was "wavy" according to him.  He hasn't worked since, and his eyesight will never go back to how it was - and might even fail altogether.  He's got one kid, and another on the way.  Luckily, he is a professional audio scorer, so even if he did lose his eyesight, he would still be able to work - albeit not as well and would need help from his partner.  If I were to lose my eyesight, I have no idea what I would do.  I would have to look for another line of work because I am an artist and that's all I know.  And no skiing, and no video games!

Best of luck to you!

[cdbrown]

Another Aussie sends his best wishes to you mate.  Eye injuries are a real pain.  When I was younger (about 20 years ago), I and some friends were playing in the sand pit, one of the kids threw some sand at me (just fooling around) which of course went in both eyes.  I - being a kid and having sand in my eyes - automatically began rubbing my eyes which just scratched my eyes more.  Went to hospital where they rinsed my eyes a lot.  Then had to have patches over both my eyes for a week or two.  I was lost without my eye sight.  I thought I could manoevre around the house using memory and just kept bashing into things.  I got time off school and lots of sweets.  Thankfully everything heeled as the doc expected.

All the best mate - give it time, rest your eyes as much as possible, keep using the drops and don't rub them.

Cheers
-cdbrown

[spidermonkey]

Thanks guys. Your positive support really keeps my spirits up I Went to the eye doctor Teusday and he switched me to a stronger antibiotic which is making my stomach queezy but when I woke up this morning I noticed an improvement.  Its still blurry but I can now make out larger letters and words like license plates or even model name emblems on sides and backs of cars if I'm close enough. I have to believe its only going to get better and better .It really stinks not being able to drive but hopefully that will come with time. I guess I'll have to be patient and see what tomorrow brings. .

Thanks all !
Spidermonkey (Tom)

[RacerX]

Glad to hear your sight is improving, man.  Here's wishing you a speedy recovery!  

[Harry Potter]

Best of luck mate. I had an eye problem myself a while back (although nowhere NEAR as bad) so I symphathise with ya. Nothing worse than your vision being stuffed. Good luck in your recovery and all the best from down under.

[whammoed]

Excellent!  Glad to hear the good news.

[spidermonkey]

Just wanted to tell you guys that the vision in my injured eye has come back 95%! . My eye is still pretty red but its clearing up a little each day. The stitches have almost completely dissolved and most of the pain has subsided. My eye doc says that the improvement has been much more then he expected and I'm very lucky. He doesn't think I'll recoupe the remaining 5% but changing the prescription in my glasses and contact lenses may take care of that. I can definately live with that since I've always had to wear glasses/contacts anyway.  Thanks for everyones support and allowing me to post my thoughts and worries. It has all worked out for the best and I couldn't be happier.

S.M.

[Bgnome]

congrats on the recovery!

[cdbrown]

That's fantastic news mate.  Make sure you continue the rehab for your eye though, we wouldn't want it to make a bad turn.

[whammoed]

Awesome news!  Congrats!

[DrewKaree]

yeah, eye'd do what cdbrown said....man, sorry for the bad pun.  I know, it's tough to read those and NOT roll your eyes   OUCH again!  Sorry...I'll try to keep an eye on it...darnit!

Seriously, though, keep working on it.  I had an eye injury way back when, before they did anything other than stitch it (if they could) and send you home with an eyepatch.  I will forever require glasses for one eye, but have actually lessened my prescription with some excercises.

Keep up with the good progress and wear your shades for a few weeks/months longer