Hook in the Eye part 2

   Each hour that drags by becomes more painful and discomforting.
  "When is this nightmare going to end?" I keep asking each person who comes to my bedside. No one has an answer.
In the waiting room we had some ding-a-ling intern doctor come in and ask me what alloy the hook was made of. He then instructed the nurse to find some dikes as he was going to clip the hook shank as it stuck out of my eye. The nurse could find nothing (thank God) and he went to cover the eye again. He pressed some metal plate on the hook and pressed down hard. I was writhing in pain telling him he was really hurting me. I am convinced he pushed the hook further into my eye and damaged some of the retina due to his goofiness. I demanded he leave me alone. Rene and our good friend Jim were about to jump up and take the doofus down. We could not believe what had just happened. We did report him to the superiors at the hospital. 
  Seven hours roll around. I am begging and pleading for someone to get me on the life flight plane and fly me to a hospital that can began the surgery to get the hook out of my eye. Poor Rene and Jim have to sit and listen to me whine.
   The night is crawling by. I am in torment and increasing pain. At one o'clock in the morning I am finally wheeled into the operating room, but must wait one more hour with the staff saying we might get the room if no other person comes in.
  I have been insisting for the past several hours that I want them to find another hospital with a surgeon and fly me there. I could have flown all the way to New York in this length of time. It seems the torture will never end. I know Rene is completely drained. She is such a trooper, guarding me like a wild animal against any more crazy interns who may want to practice stupidity on me.
  As I'm being wheeled in for surgery, Jim asks if he can take a picture of the hook in my eye. "Have at it," I tell him in my pain crazed state. He takes the only picture I have of the whole incident.
  I am in surgery for six and one half hours.
  Rene says when I "came to" in recovery I was trying to get off the bed and kept repeating that I needed to get the fish cleaned and boxed for the clients. At last she convinced my foggy mind that all was taken care of.
  Wayne and Mike took care of the fish for the clients, then cleaned and stored my boat for me. I am so thankful for such great friends.
  I was in the hospital for the next two days. The surgeons did a remarkable job removing the hook. Healing would require 6 weeks with stitches in and no infection.
  Rene and I flew back to Seattle at the end of the six weeks for reconstruction surgery. I opted for just local anesthetic and to listen to the whole procedure. I was not prepared for the seven hour ordeal it would become.
 I was fitted with a new lens in my eye, the oil, which held the retina in place while healing, was suctioned out, and a form of eye fluid was pumped in.
  Once again I returned home bruised and battered, but the eye was healing in remarkable ways. I was gaining very limited vision, but excited that I was even able to keep my own eye.
  It is now four years after that crazy day. My eye was doing great unit just this year. Now it seems the cornea is dying. I have just flown back to the Seattle surgeon and have been informed a cornea transplant is the only way to cure the blistering I am dealing with now.
  Sometimes in the heat of the battle with the painful popping blisters, I tell Rene I'm ready to get this eye taken out of my head. Just get it done and over with. Then I sit in the waiting room and read material on the great gains of the medical profession.
  The cornea transplant may last ten years at the most. I am hoping by then something will be discovered that will be able to restore all of my sight.
  Until then I will just keep on living life and trusting that everything happens for a reason. God knows my needs. If He sees fit He could heal my eye. If He chooses not to, I will still live trusting in Him,and continue on as best I can.
  I have had to fight the frustration of having no depth perception. I can not do little detailed projects that used to be so simple. I can hardly put fishing line through the eye of a hook, or string line through the eyes of the rod. Doing boat project that require me to lay on my left side and look around objects is no longer possible. I have had to lean on others more than ever in my life. All have jumped to help me and I'm so thankful for them.
  I have re-learned to shoot guns. Day after day, week after week I have had to put a gun to my shoulder and learn to look down the barrel with my right eye. It does not feel good. I am still very clumsy and dis-jointed, but am getting progressively better. As long as I've got time, I can make the shots. In a quick situation the gun still comes up on my left shoulder and I look down a blind barrel.
  In the fishing industry my situation has rippled fear through the guys. All are now wearing safety glasses while landing fish. Even the commercial guys are wearing glasses to ward off hooks.
  I was stopped in the parking lot just last summer by a fellow guide. He called me to his truck and showed me a nasty hook mark on his forehead.
  "I just want you to know, Earl," he said, "Because of you getting that hook in your eye... saved me today. I had my glasses on, because of you, and the hook bounced off my glasses and stuck in my forehead. I would be heading to Seattle in a life flight plane right now, but for you. I just wanted you to know."
  I thanked him, and am reminded that even through my ordeal there can be good come of it. We will never know how many other eyes will be saved because of my mishap.
  Life goes on. We live and breath. Never take for granted your eye sight. I am so thankful for two eyes. One is now gone, but I can still see very well with my good one.
  I will never be without glasses protecting my good eye now.
  To anyone reading this who fishes, hunts, mows lawns, uses weed eaters... wear eye protection. Harbor View Hospital is swarming with those who have put their eyes out with such devices.
  And... every day be thankful for the wonderful gift of vision!