So, on Thursday I lost my contact lens (the replacement for my broken one. I'd only had it for a month or two) down the sink at work (don't ask how, it just happened, and no I couldn't try the 's' or 'u' bend because in our hospital these are behind tiled walls...anyway...I tried to keep working to no avail, when you can't see the computer and you work a busy reception desk in a major outpatient clinic at a huge hospital you're in trouble!
I went home and called Heidi my beautiful optometrist to ask her to order me a replacement AGAIN...I was told it'd be a few days as it comes from America. I had to stay home from work the next day (Friday) as I knew I couldn't do my job adequately. I struggled at home and to and from the shops, unable to see any faces, unable to judge distances, unable to read, it was horrible.
On Sunday I was preparing for dinner by cutting open a packet of fettuccini using a huge bread knife (I couldn't find scissors). I didn't realise that I had my finger placed directly under the knife's blade. I kept sawing through the packet...and then into my finger. Unfortunately when a knife is super sharp you don't really feel it cut your skin straight away. If I'd cut too much further I would have amputated my fingertip. It bled for 40 mins solid. In that time my fiancé Matt and I caught a bus to the hospital as neither of us drive. We went to GP Access (an after hours service that sees patients who are urgent but not emergencies.
I had my finger glued together and taped with steri strips.
I didn't go to work the next day (Monday) as I was told not to use my finger for 24 hours, as someone who needs to use a keyboard for my career I didn't have that option (avoiding the use of your index finger isn't easy)
Luckily my contacts arrived Monday afternoon and so I picked them up and my world got better (aside from the finger)
I went to work on Tuesday and while I wasn't as fast as usual, I still managed to do my job.
Anyway, the main reason I posted this is to show that without our vision aids (glasses, contacts, etc) keratoconus isn't just difficult to live with, it can actually be dangerous. Prior to my contacts I fell over at least once a month due to my inability to judge the height of ridges, steps, cracks in pavement and things like that. I nearly always had grazes and cuts on myself as a result, people thought I was clumsy and uncoordinated when the truth was that I was lucky to even slightly see where I was going. Since having my hard lens I haven't fallen over or hurt myself majorly at all.
I'm grateful that science and medicine has created solutions to help us deal with our condition, without these who knows how much worse off we'd be.
I attached some pics of the injury and how bad my vision was (in fact they are probably easier to focus on than the work was for those few days)
