Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Speaking of bodies . . .

Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up on our excitement this week.

Roger was hit in the eye with a baseball on Saturday. Here's a copy of the mass e-mail I sent:

> Hello, family and friends,> > I just wanted to give you the update. For those of you> who didn't get my first e-mail, I'll catch you up:> Roger was hit in the eye (his left and dominant eye)> with a softball on Saturday. He had a huge laceration> that required a lot of stitches. At the E.R., we had a> CT scan done that showed two fractures, one of the> lower orbit (the bone that supports the eye> underneath) and one on the side of his face. He was> really hating it for a while--at first he had no> vision, but later his vision returned and he perked up> a lot. Because of some of the medications, his damaged> eye is dilated and will not shrink. Also, he has some> nerve damage that has removed feeling in parts of his> face and mouth.> > Again, I repeat that he HAS VISION. That is the big> miracle. We are so very blessed that he has not lost> vision. His vision is not as good as it was, but it is> basically 20/20 when corrected, which, he knows, is> all he can ask for. It's still hard to adjust because> that was his dominant eye and it is just not as sharp.> > Today we met with the surgeon, a guy Roger hand-picked> because of his reputation, for a review of the CT> scans. Turns out Roger WILL require surgery. Dr. Patel> will go in through Roger's lower eyelid and insert a> plate that will support the eye so that it will not> sink any lower. The plate will stay in him> forever--well, until the resurrection. The surgery is> routine for Dr. Patel and should take about two hours,> out-patient. Roger is not nervous at all about that> (but I am, because of some family history of> complications with general anesthesia). > > Most of the residual problems should resolve over> time, according to Dr. Patel, but it could take> months. For example, Rog should eventually get the> feeling back in his face, and his eye muscles will be> able to constrict again, etc. Probably his visual> acuity will not improve much, though. (But, as I said,> it's still pretty darn good sight.)> > We are so blessed that this wasn't any worse. He will> be able to continue his career and hardly ever notice> the difference (eventually). > > For my part, I'm really relieved. I also think it's> easier for me to be the patient than to be the> caregiver of the patient--I was much more distressed> when it was Roger in pain than I was during my own> labors, for example. Part of it is the fear of the> unknown, I guess. Anyway, we are doing fine, although> emotionally exhausted. Thank you for your prayers.> Keep us in them on Friday, will you?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just thinking about this makes my "empathy zone" get all squinchy. Don't ask me about my empathy zone. That's a subject for a private conversation.

Darlene said...

How can you say don't ask about something?????? To me, who lives for conversations????? Here I am, NOT ASKING . . . Yep, just sitting here, doing anything but ask . . . Wouldn't cross my mind to ask . . .