You should've listened to Ashley...

So, a few months ago, I read on my friend Ashley (Aynes)'s blog that she had gotten an ulcer on her eye. I had never even heard of getting an ulcer on your eye before then, but it sounded pretty rough. Well, last week, Jared found out exactly how rough it is.

Jared has slept in his contacts for several years and hasn't even owned a pair of glasses for a long time. Last Tuesday, he called me while he was on his way home from work and told me that he needed me to call the eye doctor and get him an appointment, but their office was already closed for the day. When he got home, he could barely keep his eyes open and had to sit in the room with the lights off. He said he had slept in his contacts the night before, got up that morning to get ready for work, took out his contacts for a little bit, and then put them back in before leaving for work. On the way to work, the sun really started irritating his left eye. It got better throughout the day, but then he had the same problem on the way home. He was so miserable by the time he got home that he had me call the after hours emergency number for our eye doctor. He called me back and had me look at Jared's eye to see if there was anything visible to the naked eye on his eye. I didn't see anything, so he said to use some artificial tear drops, a cold rag, and take some Tylenol or Advil and then come see him first thing in the morning.

So, I drove Jared to the eye doctor the next morning, and sure enough, he had an ulcer on his eye! The ulcer is formed from bacteria eating at the cornea (yum!). He was given a prescription for some antibiotic eye drops (that were dang expensive for a tiny bottle!) and then he just laid on the couch all day with his eyes closed. He said it felt like there was just a grain of sand stuck in his eye, and it hurt every time he blinked. The eye doctor said to come back on Friday unless things got worse but that he thought things would be a lot better by Friday. The next morning, unfortunately, Jared's eye was not better. It had gotten worse, and his vision was very hazy, so we headed back to the eye doctor. He was told that the inflammation had gotten really bad and that he could give him some steroids to help the inflammation, but it would slow down the healing process for the ulcer which was the main priority. So, he just gave him another prescription for some antibiotic ointment to put on his eye overnight. By Friday, it was doing a little better, so he went back to the doctor and got the steroid prescription. Needless to say, we had to get Jared some glasses (another expensive thing!!) because he's not supposed to wear his contacts until a week after it has completely healed.

Jared said this was worse than any injury or broken bone he has ever had and that he wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy. So... if you wear contacts, make sure to take them out every night and give your eyes a break as often as you can!

Anyway, he is doing much better now, and I told him that I'm actually starting to dig his glasses.. haha