The ultimate hokey pokey

Oh, the humanity...

I always thought I would end up like Ralphie in "A Christmas story" and eventually lose an eye in a horrific BB gun accident. Thursday night it almost happened but without a gun in site. I must admit losing my eyesight is one of my greatest fears and I spend the majority of my life (work does seem to consume most of it) wearing safety glasses to protect my dark brown beauties.

So there I was in the comfort and safety of my own home. Next thing I know my left eye goes black and I find myself rolling on the floor in excruciating pain with my wife and kids standing over me trying to determine if I am joking or dying. Everyone soon realized that I was in pain and there was no more humor found in the situation - at least not at this moment.
Yes, I realize I haven't told you what happened I will save the embarrassment for last!

After a short time I was able to force my eye open and found that my vision was less then perfect but figured I had just scratched my eye and retreated to the darkness of my room. A little while later I was once again in a LOT of pain and when I finally agreed with Rebecca that I needed to go to the emergency room I got my insurance card out to verify it was up to date when I noticed the $100 emergency room co-pay! I convinced myself it didn't hurt quite as bad anymore and took a couple of sleeping aids and went to bed.

I awoke this morning and found my eye glued shut so I decided to call my doctor to make an appointment during the day. Much to my surprise they took me in first thing this morning and after much surprise and joking about my situation the Dr. looked at my eye and informed me he was making me and appointment with an Optometrists and I needed to go immediately, needless to say I was a little freaked out.

I drove to the Optometrists praying that my physician was over reacting - he was having a hard time seeing the back of my eye and was worried that my retina was partially detached which what was causing my double / poor vision in my left eye.

One again I had to go through the humiliation of explaining what happened to another nurse and then the Dr. They were surprised and entertained by my story and admitted it was a first for them all, something that I found surprising after they told me about some of the strange things they have seen (waking up with dry eyes and mistaking a tube of crazy glue for eye drops).

After a thorough examination I was informed that the trauma was in the center of my pupil but my retina looked good. The down fall was that the damage was a small puncture of my Cornea which is very painful. The damage was causing my pupil to spasms so the Dr. decided it would be best to dilate my eye for at least 4 days to aid in healing. I was treated to several different eye drops and then a contact lens bandage was inserted over my eye.

Despite being light sensitive my eye felt much better - at least until the contact lens folded over in my eye tonight and I was unable to reinsert it. Thankfully I have an appointment first thing in the morning to get a new lens.

So how did all this happen? As everyone knows we have 16 cute little chickens. I have made it a daily effort to handle the birds as have the kids in order to make them as tame as possible, and on a regular basis I have warned the kids to be careful not to let the chicks get too close to their eyes as they are attracted to the shine / or in my case the Sparkle and will try to peck it! So there I was sitting on the floor petting my fluffy little birds when I looked over at Rebecca to answer a question she asked me when one of the chicks caught the glimmer in my eye and ran up to me and with all her might slammed her beak into my eye trying to get a special treat!

The saddest part is the chick that did this to me has a name and is one of the birds we were planning on keeping as a pet not as a dinner - I haven't decided whether or not we are going to change her name to dinner!

Now that you have stopped laughing and shaking your head in disbelief on a serious note please pray that my eye heals properly and that the pain is minimal (especially because I am alone the the next 5 days as Rebecca and the kids are going to New Hampshire for some much needed Rest and Relaxation and I won't have anyone around to pamper me).

At least I know you will all think of me in a special way every time you hear the song "The Hokey Pokey" :)