Friday Frenzy

What a day! But we are thankful as the day ends, that it is ending much better than it started. Stephen, our oldest, who will be 19 in a week, is taking automotive & welding courses. He's done some welding here at home with dad - and being told over and over again about eye protection and protection in general as it can cause serious burns. He's given himself a sunburn on his arms and face already. Well, last night he got home from class and his eyes were really red and watering. He was working on the exhaust on our car at class and some of it he had to see "better" so he pushed the protective hat up off his eyes. This morning he could barely open his eyes. His eyelids were so swollen and his eyes burned terribly. Everything was blury. We called the doctor's office, and they said he should go to ER right away - but not the small hospitals in our area - but to the bigger city - so an othomologist on call can see him. We had plans for the day - taking in puppies - plus a friend coming for dinner. This was NOT in the plans for the day! Stephen was not thrilled at all to have to get out of bed, and could not stand the light. I tried calling a local eye doctor's office, and an optrimitist was in that could see him right away. So, I "made" him go. I jumped to conclussions when she first started looking at his eyes, because her first reaction was "ohhhh . . .You burned them quite good." Then she had him read the line of letters on the wall. I could read them just fine - even reading them backwards - and he could not. More anxiety. She put two different types of drops in his eyes and determined he did NOT burn the retina's but did do cornea cell damage. However, these cells rebuild every 24 hours, and she expects him to be MUCH better by Sunday. He had to get two perscriptions which seems to be helping, along with wearing sunglasses, even in the house.

Well, though it was a painful lesson for him to learn, I think it was a good one, and maybe one of those "I told you so" that we DON'T have to say . . . and he will be much more diligent about the protection. He is getting razed some and probably will too by his friends. We have been coming up with different ideas of what he could do for a job if he was blind. He's not too thrilled of that idea - and neither are we!

The night ended good with time with a friend. Jayson played his guitar. He is getting quite good on it - pretty much self teaching. He's always had an ear for music. His piano teacher used to get frustrated with him, because he plays by ear. But, the guitar has been a good outlet for him, and neat to see the kids listening to him as he plays and sings.