I just cant catch a break!

[CarMichael Angelo]

No sooner do I get all "recovered" from the hand surgery and can actually make some progress, The cut-off wheel explodes on the grinder and half of the wheel blows my glasses off of my face and punctures my eye.

After 9 hours of sitting in the hospital, a trio of eye doctors determine that the globe of my eye has been punctured and that it was sufficiently serious to warrant emergency surgery at 9PM last night.

Getting hit by that thing knocks me down. I knew it was bad, it felt like you hit me across the eye socket w/ a wrench.The natural instinct was of course to instantly cover it w/ my hand. By the time I got back up and ran to the kitchen to get myself to the sink my hand was covered in blood. That, coupled w/ the fact I couldn't open my eye had me panicked!

The surgery to repair the hole wasn't conclusive. There is so much blood on the back side of the eyeball, they couldn't determine if there was still something inside there causing the internal bleed. The doctor will re-examine the eye post-op today.

I cant do nothing (not even bend down) for a week, and there may be another surgery required to fix whatever else might be wrong.

Word to the wise: Think long and hard the next time you start doing something w/o putting on safety glasses, I'm pretty sure I'd be blind today w/o them.

 

[NIKwoaC]

Damn! I'm really sorry to hear that, man! Keep us updated, I'm pulling for ya.

I worked in a machine shop for a few years, so I'm in the habit of wearing safety glasses whenever I use power tools. I even usually wear them if I have to get under the car, even if I'm just changing the oil. I've had stuff fall into my eye before that was not pleasant.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Damn that sucks.

I have safety glasses on right now actually (seriously)

 

[90stang5speed]

damn! hope you recover from it ok

 

[fiveohwblow]

Wow man. I too pray you recover 100% man.

I always wear glasses, and its things like this that remind me why I do this.

 

[capri debris]

Sorry to hear about your injury... hope everything turns out well.

I've been a welder for many years now and have seen my share of ginding injuries... none of them pleasant. That's why I always wear gloves, safety glasses AND a face shield... and the wheel guard is always on. Rarely do you see me put any body part in-line with the wheel while grinding... even my feet, I've seen a guy lose his toes when one came apart.

 

[Cobra912]

holy crap man, sorry to hear hope you recover soon!

 

[HotFox]

Wow! Hope for quick recovery!

I am guilty of not wearing safety on pretty much everything I do.

Scott

 

[fiveohwblow]

Wow! Hope for quick recovery!

I am guilty of not wearing safety on pretty much everything I do.

Scott

good god man. Wrap before you tap!

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Thanks for all of the well wishes. The doctor gave me a good prognosis. One week before I can resume doing things that would cause any complications to the healing process.
I'll know in another week after I see him again if there is no retinal tearing underneath all of the blood that is in the eye.

Right now my vision has dropped from 20/20 to 20/60, and will be that way for months until all of the blood is absorbed. As bad as that sounds the DR is elated I can see that good all things considered.

This is what happened:

I did not notice that the cut-off wheel had cracked.The grinder doesn't have a guard, I would use the blade guard, but it makes the thing almost worthless for what I use it for. When I triggered the grinder, the break occurred instantly. The wheel fragment hit the glasses right at the hinge point and broke them at that point. The bow was rammed into my eye and made the puncture.

The doc said that w/o the glasses the eye would have been devastated.

I would use a full face shield but the damn thing is so hazy, you can't even see what you're doing. Course, I could've bought a new one for about 1/10th of the 200.00 the ER and private Dr. co pays ended up costing me.

Maybe in a few years, I'll be able to put a funny spin on the thing and add it to another one of my stupid story threads.

 

[LarsD]

Jeeze, that sucks. I have a guard on mine and wear regular glasses, usually I wear safety glasses too. Will be praying for you man!

/starts shopping for face shields.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Wow! Hope for quick recovery!

I am guilty of not wearing safety on pretty much everything I do.

Scott

Trust me, this is a big wake up for me. I thought I lost the eye yesterday. and it sucks having only one when seconds before you had both.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Damn man sorry to hear about that. I'm a diehard religious safety glasses wearer. You only get one set of eyes.

 

[tannerc91gt]

hope all goes well man, i seriously wear my safety glasses all the time and this is exactly why

 

[stykthyn]

My scrip glasses are z87, I wear them any time I work with power tools.

 

[capri debris]

After the details you gave I'm having a hard time feeling bad for you. Eyes are very important and you weren't only being careless with them... you were being extremely careless with them.

First off, get the saftey guard put back on that grinder... there isn't anything I can't use it for that the guard keeps me from doing... there is NO type of grinding that can't be done with the guard on that can be done with the guard off.

Secondly, buy several face shield replacements and keep them on hand for when they get foggy.

Thirdly, ALWAYS check the wheel before you fire up ANY grinder... and discard any that have become pinched, cracked or have kicked back at you when in use... even if they still look good.

Yes it costs money to buy new face shields, wheels and glasses... but a small price to pay considering the consequences are being blind for the rest of your life.

Hope you learned something from all this and hope your eye heals... but damn man, you were asking to get hurt IMO.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Trust me, this is a big wake up for me. I thought I lost the eye yesterday. and it sucks having only one when seconds before you had both.

Nobody asked for sympathy. I understand completely that I was at fault, and the underlying message to this thread was that this was a lesson learned about careless behavior and the potential damages that can occur in a matter of seconds. Nowhere did I say I couldn't afford the proper safety gear. And on my 4.5" grinders the shield over the cut off wheel restricts access to deep cuts in perpendicular angles when the blade gets only fractionally smaller. If I was grinding that'd be a different story, but I wasn't, I was cutting. Did it make it the right thing to do,...nope. Again underlying lesson was I learned mine.

Your perspective on careless behavior warranting negative repercussions is not totally w/o merit,. It wouldn't be the first time I heard "you asked for it"

Just the same, nobody suffering from a bad break needs to hear it.

 

[1bad67sbf]

hope you heal fast, i had a grinding wheel for a chain saw chain sharpener break and its like a bomb went off.

 

[1991notchbackLX]

Nothing is classier than telling someone who's hurt "you asked for it." It's almost as classy as "I told you so." To madmike: I hope you're feeling better now and that you make a full recovery.

 

[tat2d30688]

Sorry to hear about the bad luck, hopefully everything up quick!