This isn’t so much a gardening post as a gardening-adjacent post. The picture at the top is a clue. And a warning.
A couple of weeks ago we were cutting back a very large shrub. The chainsaw was out and so all the protective gear was on: gloves, goggles, ear defenders.
Then we started clearing the branches, ready to hoick them off to the tip. Simon removed the sweaty, steamed up goggles because, for this simple job, who needs PPE?
Well….with a loud cry, he hit the deck like he’d been shot. A springy twig had just pinged back, straight into his eye. Most alarmingly, as I peered in to look for any bits of dirt, I could see an actual, visible mark on the surface!
It’s just a twig, how bad can it be?
Shaftesbury’s minor injuries unit, paramedics, Salisbury hospital eye clinic… they’ve all been on the case. And long story short: a zigzag-shaped tear in his cornea. Right through all 5 layers of the cornea! Any deeper, and it would have been a whole hell of a lot more serious.
At the eye clinic they popped in a protective contact lens (a “bandage lens”) and gave him antibiotic and antifungal eye drops.
Fortunately, it was the cleanest twig in the history of twigs and he didn’t get any kind of infection. Those things are seriously bad news.
Days of discomfort (to say the least)
But even without an infection it has been incredibly painful for him at times. For about a week I was putting drops in his eye up to 16 times a day, which is fun for everyone. With the various drops regimes and painkillers, I ended up keeping a chart of all the timings.
He was off work for a week, dealing with a lot of pain, blurriness and general discomfort.
Now, 12 days and 5 hospital visits later, the tear has healed. Unfortunately, it’s left some scarring on the cornea, which may slightly affect his vision. On the bright side, this can apparently be overridden by an adjustment to his glasses prescription.
Only just decompressing from the stress
It’s been a super scary and stressful time for both of us. I think we’re going to look at some of those garden jobs with a bit more respect in future. OK, not everything needs a full-on welder’s helmet but, at the very least, Simon might have learnt to wear his glasses.
I said at the start that this was a warning. Take heed and please, please, please look after your eyes. Wear your glasses. Wear the sweaty goggles. I can barely articulate the thought of what might have happened, had this been even a millimetre deeper. At least, not without feeling very queasy indeed.
I had a branch from a neighbour’s tree wreak havoc with my cornea some years ago but as it followed a n evening at the pub I kept quiet about it! Great share about the perils of accidents at home, where we tend to drop our guard.