We had a real scare with Luke on Friday. (He's fine, so read with assurance).
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| His right eye took the sword point |
Luke and I were walking from my
classroom to the Sports Center to collect Tim from karate after school.
I was carrying a toy sword, which I'd used for a photo for Hamlet that
some students are doing. Luke and I turned into each other at the same
moment and sword met eye. When I finally got the eye pried open, there
was a white film across the pupil that made his eye look like a Siberian
Husky. All I could think was that he'd been dealt autism and just
couldn't be handed blindness as well. We were outside with a cold wind and bright sun, and Luke was in distress.
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| The offending sword |
I called Laura Viner, who is an
eye surgeon, but she didn't pick up. I didn't know if I should call an
ambulance, go to the doctor, go the hospital or go to the clinic. Being an immigrant is hard at times like these. I
got him to the Sports Center and chaos ensued. We attracted quite a crowd, and Tim finally worked his way through and looked near tears. I think word had made it to him through the other children that Luke had lost an eye! Lucretia, a dear mother of a child in Tim's class, pushed her way through and took charge.
Laura called me back at that time with very clear and calm advice: give him no food or drink in case they have to operate. Go to the hospital, but call ahead and ask the switchboard to put me though to the eye department. We hung up and I called Paul who was finishing his day at work. I don't know how to describe his feeling of helplessness.
The question of what to do was answered but I didn't know to which hospital to take him. The town where the school is located has a hospital with a bad reputation among the ex-pats. Guildford has a great hospital but I'm unfamiliar with it, it's 30 miles away on a major highway out of London at the start of rush hour on a Friday night.
Lucretia had calmed me, took my phone and found Guildford hospital on my GPS as well as their number for me to call. She'd also shooed away all the looky-loos and taken Tim under her wing, getting him into shoes, coat and backpack as well as talking with him reassuringly and keeping him near Luke and me.
Sam, one of the trainers, came to my rescue within minutes of our arrival. He brought a first aid kit and sent word to another trainer to bring ice. He calmed Luke and me to the point that Luke was starting to open his eye and blink. Sam was able to see that there was no longer any white film and that the pupil looked undamaged. Luke was focusing and tracking but clearly in pain. Planning to make the stressful trek to Guildford, he carried my bags, Luke's bags and the sword and walked us to the car.
On the walk to the car he asked me where we lived. He asked if I was familiar with the walk-in clinic in Weybridge. Our GP (family doctor) has his offices in the same building. He said that they run an excellent clinic, and that I should take Luke there. He reasoned that I was familiar with it, could find it easily, park for free a short walk from the door, be close to home if we needed anything, and they would be able to take care of what he thought was probably wrong with the eye, an abrasion but not on the pupil.
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| A re-enactment of sorts. |
So that's what I did with relief. The drive in the dark to an unfamiliar and large hospital, in rush hour, with my SatNav and two boys and various levels of distress was looming large in my mind. I bundled the boys in the car and called Paul to give him an update. My fears of blindness were only shadows, and my calmer tone and news that I was going to the Weybridge clinic brought Paul relief.
We were seen within ten minutes of arrival, despite the 6 or so people there before us. Luke had fallen asleep in the car and woke considerably calmer. He became very distressed as soon as we went into the exam room. His last visit was a month earlier where they took blood to check his iron and thyroid (no results yet, just routine checks). That was a miserable visit for all of us. I asked the nurse to show Luke what she was going to do by doing it to me. She was kind and professional but it was clear she didn't know what to do with an autistic child. She doubtfully followed my request by pretending to put drops in my eye and then look at it with a UV lamp. He bought it but still fought it and we had to wrestle him down and force the drops in. They stung. She tried for a while to see the eye but he kept it shut tight, so we started to talk about what should be done. I think if she had spent more time doing it to me before him, that he would have been more cooperative. He's getting very good at learning by watching.
She felt that his distress suggested an abrasion but the lack of watering and no swelling suggested that it wasn't very deep. There were two topical medication choices. Luke calmed significantly during this chat to the point that he opened his eye and started using it normally. She tried again with more success. He even put his hands above and below his eye and pulled on the skin to help. This didn't work as he was clamping it shut again, but she did get a better look.
We were sent home with an ointment to apply four times for 2 days and instructions to return on Sunday. By the time Luke went to bed. He was acting normal and the eye seemed no worse for the ordeal. He learned the ointment routine quickly. I put some in my own eye to know what it was like. I slight burn at first, followed by itching and then just the odd feeling of having ointment in your eye. When we show him the ointment now, he gets a cloth and sits down with his head tilted and ready. He has an appointment with the eye specialist in Kingston in two weeks as part of his regular checks, so we'll know for sure if there is any injury.
I woke Saturday morning with noticeable muscle pain in my neck and shoulders, a bi-product of the adrenaline of my stress and worry.
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