The lesson is: never be safe

[numbnuts240]

so during my reckless youth years, i would do all types of work with complete disregard to safety. safety glasses? stop being a b****. ear plugs? what are you, a fairy? gloves? what? you don't want to ruin your fresh manny, you h0m0? sure, i suffered a few cuts, scrapes, burns, but nothing that a little bacitracin and a band-aid couldn't handle.

fast forward to present day. i'm pushing 30, and while i do realize that i'm still young-ish, i've also pretty much accepted that i'm closing in on the middle of my life. since i knew i was going to be doing a lot of grinding on the datsun (finally) i decided i should get some protective gear and take proper precautions. i went to town on a wheel well, grinding away, wearing a bandana, full face shield, hood over all that, gloves, boots, long tube socks, and a condom. lo and behold, i still get a f*** piece of rust embedded 3 layers deep into my f*** cornea.

the eye doctor got most of it out, but the deeper piece had to be left, otherwise she would just risk pushing it further towards my pupil. the remainder should eventually get ejected naturally. so now i have to deal with everyone automatically assuming i'm into smelling bare-assed farts, up close and personal, sleeping suck a**, as does blinking in general. abrupt changes in light bring on crazy pain, so i've resorted to wearing an eye patch. but who needs depth perception when you look like a pirate, amirite?

[Ajax]

when grinding, I recommend closing your eyes, looking away, and hoping.
Sucks dude. hope that heals quickly.

[snwbrdr435]

Damn tito that s*** sucks! After one trip to the eye doctor and er as a kid due to my brother kicking me in the face during an epic pillow fight I have since been one to wear eye protection.

[Bubba1]

To be fair, some of us already assumed you were into smelling bare-assed farts. But seriously, that sucks. I hope it ejects itself quickly. Did they at least prescribe you some good drugs to ease the pain?

[numbnuts240]

negative on the fun pills, just drops.

[NolimitZ32]

That sucks man, I'll admit that I don't practice safety nearly as much as I should. Myself also pushing 30 and on top of that working in the construction industry for the last ~10 years, you will never see me without full PPE on site but somehow at home I have always gotten away never putting anything on except some mechanix gloves occasionally because punching the engine block is no fun. Hope you heal up fast, as for me, looks like I'll be learning from your pain and adorning full PPE this weekend when dropping the engine in.

[numbnuts240]

so light sensitivity, pain and discomfort are gone. turns out the pain killing drops i was prescribe is no longer available, but that's fine since they cost like $45 and it seems that i won't even need them.

wearing the eye patch was interesting. depth perception and peripheral vision were completely bonkers. when i took it off after a good amount of time wearing it, it looked like my right eye (the good one) was looking through lightly tinted sunglasses, while my left eye was getting full brightness. it was weird.

after work today, i discovered water damage upstairs. probably the result of a nasty ice dam from this s*** winter's nonsense. how do i keep my mind occupied and not focusing on more money spent fixing crap? go back to grinding the car, of course. this time i wore my ski goggles underneath the face shield. sure they kept fogging up every 20 minutes or so, but that just allowed me to justify beer breaks.

[Bubba1]

.but that just allowed me to justify beer breaks.

Fortunately the accident has not impacted the important things in life. And on the plus side, it sounds like the eye patch gives you a brief opportunity to practice your pirate impression.

"Let's go to the bARRRRRRRR..."

[Dattebayo]

I lost the tip of my middle finger on my left hand because of not wearing full-fingered gloves once (I had framer's gloves on), it grew back but doesn't work the same anymore. It really slowed down my typing cause I can't feel that spot anymore.

[Bubba1]

I lost the tip of my middle finger on my left hand because of not wearing full-fingered gloves once (I had framer's gloves on), it grew back but doesn't work the same anymore. It really slowed down my typing cause I can't feel that spot anymore.

That's also a critical finger for driving in NJ...

[BusyBadger]

so light sensitivity, pain and discomfort are gone.

That's a pretty quick recovery, you should be thankful! I had a corneal abrasion that took a couple of weeks to heal and it was awful. As my ophthalmologist said, unlike most pain where we can often disassociate ourselves from it, because we are such a visually oriented species it's nearly impossible to do this with eye injuries.

[Dattebayo]

"Corneal abrasion" sounds a lot less critical than what I read up there...

[confused9]

At least girls think you're down lol. I'm 25 and I'm in that mentality. God knows how much epoxy, paint thinner, sikka flex, and chisels have gone into my skin.

[numbnuts240]

got a follow up exam this afternoon so the doc can see how everything is progressing. i'm hoping for an iron man situation. something about having a mini arc reactor for an eye sounds awesome.

[frapjap]

I'm with you, man. I used to never bother with gloves, eye glasses, long socks, etc. Somewhere along the line I put it all on now and even go as far as to disconnect the battery in the car before working on it and unplug stuff when I change out the attachments on the tools.

Once upon a time I got brake fluid in my eye. That SUCKED.

Hopefully yours heals up soon.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

I have an old pair of safety glasses that I retired from work that are all scratchy and crappy and fog up in the mississippi humidity. I generally only wear them when I'm grinding or hammering on something and I'm under the car.

I wear gloves when dealing with sharp or hot things, and that's about it.

[numbnuts240]

so the deep piece is still in my eye, and she says it's a bit cloudy in that are, but that was just because white blood cells are on the attack. vision in that eye is still a bit blurry, but i didn't even notice any of that until we tested it. gotta go back on friday for another progress check-up. good thing is that this office employs a plethora of pleasant, and very attractive females.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

I've noticed that on many of the recent trips I've taken to specialty medical facilities.
When I got my wisdom teeth taken out, it was like walking into the playboy mansion, complete with crazy fish tanks and 1 dude (chief surgeon) surrounded by hotness that I can only assume was imported from outside of Mississippi.

[Dattebayo]

I guess if you're in someones mouth the rest of the day, you'd rather your office work time be in someplace nice, huh.