C
Claire Petersky
Guest
Dear friends:
A word to the wise -- do not get citrus degreaser in your eye. I accidentally flicked a tiny bit
into my eye while scrubbing the drive train with a toothbrush. How it got up and under my glasses, I
don't know, but it did.
I flushed the eye for a short bit, then looked at the can of degreaser. 15 minutes of flushing, they
said, so I did about ten minutes more. Then I called Poison Control. They had me flush for another
10 minutes, this time with warm salt water. A thrill.
Then I patched the eye up with gauze, and rested it with cold compresses for about an hour. Called
Poison Control back, and described the level of remaining irritation. Now I've patched it back up
again, and am told not to use the eye for another hour. Then me and the nurse at Poison Control get
to decide if I am going to the emergency room. My fellow Americans know how wonderful it is to go to
emergency in the evening if you are not in imminent danger of dying. If I go, I'll be lucky to be
home by midnight.
So, just don't do this, okay? I think that I'm going to recover, because it was only a tiny flick,
and I did a heck of a lot of irrigation of the eye, but so far it has not been a great deal of fun.
Warm Regards,
Claire Petersky
"Where are we going?" "And why are we in this handbasket?"
-- from a bumper sticker
A word to the wise -- do not get citrus degreaser in your eye. I accidentally flicked a tiny bit
into my eye while scrubbing the drive train with a toothbrush. How it got up and under my glasses, I
don't know, but it did.
I flushed the eye for a short bit, then looked at the can of degreaser. 15 minutes of flushing, they
said, so I did about ten minutes more. Then I called Poison Control. They had me flush for another
10 minutes, this time with warm salt water. A thrill.
Then I patched the eye up with gauze, and rested it with cold compresses for about an hour. Called
Poison Control back, and described the level of remaining irritation. Now I've patched it back up
again, and am told not to use the eye for another hour. Then me and the nurse at Poison Control get
to decide if I am going to the emergency room. My fellow Americans know how wonderful it is to go to
emergency in the evening if you are not in imminent danger of dying. If I go, I'll be lucky to be
home by midnight.
So, just don't do this, okay? I think that I'm going to recover, because it was only a tiny flick,
and I did a heck of a lot of irrigation of the eye, but so far it has not been a great deal of fun.
Warm Regards,
Claire Petersky
"Where are we going?" "And why are we in this handbasket?"
-- from a bumper sticker