Freak accident

A few days ago I was browning some hamburger to make a pot of spaghetti, and out of nowhere, I got popped in the corner of my eye with grease!

I rinsed my eye with cold water, and it seemed, at first, that the injury was not very bad–I had only a little soreness in the corner of my eye. Then the next morning, I noticed it had swelled up a little bit. As time went on, the swelling got progressively worse.

When I went to work yesterday morning, one of the doctors I work with took one look at it and insisted that I make an appointment with an ophthalmologist and get it checked out. So I made an appointment yesterday, and left work early in order to be seen.

Luckily, the cornea was not burned–just the opening to the tear duct at the corner of my eye. I was prescribed some antibiotic eye ointment and some eye drops, and told to come back in a week.

It ended up costing me $80 just for the co-pay, and another $36 for the medications. I honestly don’t know if I can afford another $80 co-pay next week. I can barely afford to take care of my family (plus the sister who moved in with me) as it is.

Such is the American medical system—many people can’t afford to see the doctor, even with medical insurance. I have stopped going to the doctor, unless it is an emergency. I’m sitting here questioning whether I should have gone to the doctor at all–maybe I could have just went to Tractor Supply and got some Terramycin like they use on livestock, and that would have been good enough. It would have been a lot cheaper, and I would not be forced to use four hours of PTO in order to cover the time I lost from work.