We had quite the scare on Friday. Torrey was at home working out with an exercise band and it slipped off his foot and came back and hit him in the face. I was at work, but Torrey said immediately after it happened he blacked out. He could not see at all for a few minutes. He had excruciating pain in his left eye and he felt as though a part of it might have been cut off (I don't do well with eye trauma so when he told me this I almost keeled over). He still could not see, but he made his way to the bathroom. The vision slowly returned to his right eye. When he was looking in the mirror he could tell that his entire left eye was extremely bloodshot, but the iris (the colored part, around your pupil) was filling up with blood. He was so scared that his vision might never return in this eye. He knew that he needed to get to a doctor quickly so he drove himself to Mercy Gilbert ER. He was seen by a doctor within minutes of arriving to the hospital. He then called me at work and fortunately, I was able to leave right away. I met him at the hospital. The doctor told him that he had a "hyphema" which is bleeding in the anterior chamber of the eye. The staff had arranged for him to see an ophthalmologist in Gilbert right away. They gave us his discharge instructions and then I drove him to the appointment. All the discharge papers said was "Your injury has caused you to develop a hyphema, which is bleeding in the front of the eye. Hyphemas can be very dangerous." Needless to say, after reading that I was very scared. We both were. The ophthalmologist examined his eye and said that he thought Torrey would recover fully from his injury. He said that it might just take a few days for the blood clot to be reabsorbed and for the blood that had collected to dissolve. He said that there is, however, a risk of developing a "rebleed". If he were to develop a rebleed, his entire eye could fill with blood and he would need surgery to drain it. A rebleed can cause glaucoma and even cause him to lose his vision. We were determined to do whatever it takes to avoid a rebleed. So what's the treatment.....total bedrest! So Torrey has strict orders from the doctor to be a couch potato for 5 days! The medication (steroid eye drops) that the doctor gave us is helping to relieve his pain wonderfully. The good news is that his eye seems to be healing very well. What a relief.....and a blessing!! The thing I found so interesting and scary was that the ophthalmologist told us that Torrey was the second hyphema case he had seen that day caused by an exercise band. Can you believe that? So much for his new year's resolution to get in shape!!!
It is hard to see his eye in this picture because it is so incredibly sensitive to light. He has been wearing his sunglasses practically 24/7. Yesterday it was 10:30pm, all the lights in the house were off, and Torrey was laying on the couch with his sunglasses on trying to watch tv. Poor guy!
So this is what his eye looks (or looked) like!!! Gross huh!?!
(Did I mention that I don't do well with eye trauma?!)
