Resting in Budapest

Alfonz hurt his eye!

After a day of digging in our Capestang garden with a pick-ax lifting up the garden ties, a chip of ceramic tile flew up and hit Alfonz’s eye with such force, it nearly knocked him out.

He came inside to lie down on the couch, and fell asleep. This just goes to show that when in the garden digging, or working, eye glasses are a must. Protecting your eyes are the most important thing, as Alfonz can contest too.

He woke up in time to come with me to pick up the kids, and while driving he abruptly pulled the van over and I took the wheel. I had never seen him in so much pain. My lovely husband was in utter agony.

Returning home with the kids, he decided to go to bed and see what would happen in the morning.

The pain wasn’t going away the next morning, so we dropped the kids off with Celine, our neighbour, and searched for a doctor. The Capestang doctors are usually in their office in the mornings. The sign stating 8:00-noon, and it was 10:00am and of course, the one time there is a exception to the rule, there was no one around.

We stopped at the pharmacy near the square to buy some eye wash, but nothing was helping.

We finally drove to the Beziers hospital, which Celine said to do first, where they gave Alfonz an eye wash and then directed us to a specialty clinic across town.

One there, they put us in the front of the line, and the fabulous nurse on duty, also named Celine, gave him a local anaesthetic and finally Alfonz was temporarily out of pain.

The doctor put in some blue drops and looked at his eye with a special light, and you could see how long and thick the scratch was, starting from the bottom of his pupil, it skipped straight to his eyelashes.

The doctor gave him some moisture drops, 6-days of antibiotic drops, and Ibuprofen. After paying the 50 Euros, they sent us on our way. A great price for invaluable medical care, and the cheapest I have found in Europe!

Alfonz hasn’t been able to drive, or get comfortable ever since. He wears dark glasses and a hat, stays out of the light, as his eye is so sensitive he cannot even bare a slight breeze.

Never-the-less, we ended up going on our 2-week trip to Spain and Hungary and I took the wheel while Alfonz travelled in the back of the Westfalia with the curtains drawn.

After Spain we flew to Budapest, where we visited Alfonz’s cousin Angela who happens to be a doctor. She patched his eye up and made an appointment with her girlfriend for Sunday night at the hospital in Budapest for another look behind the eye. I pray it isn’t too serious.

Today is his last day of antibiotics, and his pain seems to be increasing. I wonder if his lens has somehow lifted up. Only time will tell.

We go to my cousin’s house today in Bakonysarkony, and my aunty is the head nurse there.

I’ll patch him up again and hope we have a day of fun and rest, and tomorrow we conquer Alfonz’s eye. Fingers are crossed.

—-

During our restful stay in Bakonysarkony, my two cousin’s Zsolti, Peti along with myself, ribbed Alfonz and came up with as many pirate jokes as we could while consuming far too many alcoholic beverages.

—-Thank goodness, no need for another specialist! Patching Alfonz’s eye gave his eye the rest it needed to repair. It was explained to us, that his eye blinking kept irritating the wound and did not allow for healing. It has been an exhausting process for him; looking at the world through one eye has its depth difficulties. Thankfully we found a solution and he is feeling better.

During the evenings, when the light is low, and the kids are in bed, Alfonz has been taking off his patch.

Saturday I will drive back from Barcelona to Capestang, giving his eye a full two weeks of rest. We can only hope things will be back to normal soon once hone in southern France!