It was Sunday evening.
All the kids had simply flopped down on the chesterfield, chairs, pillows and rug after supper. This was "Walt Disney Night" if you were young or "Sports Night" if you were a teenage boy. The problem was that we had only one T.V. for eleven people. Half asleep,lounging on the couch, with a grin on his face, my oldest son, Matthew, had just switched the channel back to basketball yet again. In utter frustration, three year old Lucy, who was standing up, indiscriminately flung a charcoal pencil down towards the floor. Anthony was laying on the rug nearby.
That last warning about the eyes?
Suddenly the dramatic over statement became a reality a as Lucy's flying pencil pierced Anthony's eye.
At first I thought that Anthony had a piece of the chocolate pencil laying underneath his iris; in my ignorance, I tried to flush it out. Thank the Lord that Anthony resisted my attempts and my husband rushed over and stopped me. We handed Anthony a huge freezie to hold and Michael instinctively reached over, as he drove, to keep our little guy's hands away from his eye.
Later found out that if I had been successful, in rinsing out my son's eye, Anthony would definitely have lost it to infection.What I was seeing was not a piece of brown artist's pencil, I was actually seeing the iris muscle leaking out from the puncture wound.
Later, just before surgery, a resident asked my husband to sign a waver which stated that, as Anthony's parent, he was fully aware that Anthony could lose his eye during the operation. My young son didn't even sigh during the interview but after the doctor left, he stared sobbing, petrified that he would lose his eye. Michael calmed him down and after he prayed over him, draining fear, trauma and pain, Anthony fell asleep until the surgery. That was our second moment of grace that day. Anthony's indignat father informed the head eye specialist that a certain resident needed instructions on bedside manners.
Modern medicine astonished both of us.
The tear was sewn, three holes were drilled into his eyeball and eye fluid was pumped back in to restore the exact curvature to his eye! In post-op, while two other little fellows struggle and fought the staff by trying to rip out tubes, Anthony was so calm and pleasant that the surgical team gave him a bear for being the best patient ever. The team even remembered the guilty little Lucy with an adorable bear sporting fairy wings and a tutu.
For rest of the five days in the hospital, Anthony felt like a prince.
He had sole possesion of a remote, play station and t.v.That simply never happened in our large family where every kid watched the clock as their time to play approached. In addition he was delighted to receive visiting siblings and their friends who all came bearing gifts and candy.
Anthony's badge of distinction ,to this day, is a pie shaped area in his iris that is more green than brown and 20/20 vision.
All the kids had simply flopped down on the chesterfield, chairs, pillows and rug after supper. This was "Walt Disney Night" if you were young or "Sports Night" if you were a teenage boy. The problem was that we had only one T.V. for eleven people. Half asleep,lounging on the couch, with a grin on his face, my oldest son, Matthew, had just switched the channel back to basketball yet again. In utter frustration, three year old Lucy, who was standing up, indiscriminately flung a charcoal pencil down towards the floor. Anthony was laying on the rug nearby.
Then it happened.
One of those gory warnings, probably originating in the fifties, that mothers tend to shout at their rowdy offspring became a reality. We all keep these common sayings hidden in the back of our brains. Even though modern mums try not to resort to these dire predictions, they do slip out now and again:
"Come down this instant; you are going to fall and break your neck!"
"Careful with that knife; you don't want to cut your finger off."
"Don't come crying to me if you fall and break your leg."
"Watch out for cars or I'll have to scrape you off the road and put you in a box."
"You will be the death of me yet."
"That water is boiling hot; you'll be sorry if it spills all over you."
"Pay attention to what you are doing or you'll poke out your eye."
Suddenly the dramatic over statement became a reality a as Lucy's flying pencil pierced Anthony's eye.
At first I thought that Anthony had a piece of the chocolate pencil laying underneath his iris; in my ignorance, I tried to flush it out. Thank the Lord that Anthony resisted my attempts and my husband rushed over and stopped me. We handed Anthony a huge freezie to hold and Michael instinctively reached over, as he drove, to keep our little guy's hands away from his eye.
Later found out that if I had been successful, in rinsing out my son's eye, Anthony would definitely have lost it to infection.What I was seeing was not a piece of brown artist's pencil, I was actually seeing the iris muscle leaking out from the puncture wound.
Later, just before surgery, a resident asked my husband to sign a waver which stated that, as Anthony's parent, he was fully aware that Anthony could lose his eye during the operation. My young son didn't even sigh during the interview but after the doctor left, he stared sobbing, petrified that he would lose his eye. Michael calmed him down and after he prayed over him, draining fear, trauma and pain, Anthony fell asleep until the surgery. That was our second moment of grace that day. Anthony's indignat father informed the head eye specialist that a certain resident needed instructions on bedside manners.
Modern medicine astonished both of us.
The tear was sewn, three holes were drilled into his eyeball and eye fluid was pumped back in to restore the exact curvature to his eye! In post-op, while two other little fellows struggle and fought the staff by trying to rip out tubes, Anthony was so calm and pleasant that the surgical team gave him a bear for being the best patient ever. The team even remembered the guilty little Lucy with an adorable bear sporting fairy wings and a tutu.
He had sole possesion of a remote, play station and t.v.That simply never happened in our large family where every kid watched the clock as their time to play approached. In addition he was delighted to receive visiting siblings and their friends who all came bearing gifts and candy.
Anthony's badge of distinction ,to this day, is a pie shaped area in his iris that is more green than brown and 20/20 vision.
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