Monday, September 1, 2008

The Eyes Have It


The door that leads into our living room has been sticking pretty badly lately - to the point that a bit of the frame has broken, and every now and then dirt / grit / particles fall down on your head as you go through it.

Last week, as I was doing the now usual routine of pushing on the top of the door to open it, I happened to look up and get a severe piece of dirt / grit /particle / whatever square in the eye.

For the rest of the night I was whining about it like a little girl (Ben can attest to this). After hours of tears rolling down a single cheek and not being able to blink without severe discomfort, I went to bed hoping that it would shift in my sleep.

It did not.

It stayed in there for days. Eventually I got eye drops from the chemist, which I once again thought would help shift it overnight.

It did not.

I finally got an appointment with the optometrist on Thursday night. I showed up there after work at 5 o'clock. The doc took a look in my eye using his fancy machines, then told me he was going to look under the lid to make sure there wasn't anything under there.

He told me he had to invert my eyelid.

I have this thing about my eyes. I can't handle them being touched. It's not a conscious thing, they just act of their own accord. So when he told me he had to invert my eyelid, I immediately had this image in my head;


He had to attempt it a number of times, each time telling me to "relax". And in my head I'm like "IT'S NOT ME! MY EYES HAVE A MIND OF THEIR OWN!!!"

Eventually, however, he managed to invert my eyelid and get a look in there. The dirt / grit / particles had left the premises, but not without scratching up my eye. The damage is only temporary, and should heal with time.

The dumb thing is, though, that every time I go through the doorway in the hall now, I very consciously shrink away from it, practically screaming "Not my eyes! God help me, not in my eyes!!!"

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