It was the first off day in about a week. The night before there had been talk of beaches, cliff jumping, and a variety of other island activities. My internal alarm dictates when I wake up. As soon as I open my eyes the light seems so bright it was painful. I try to let my eyes adjust. The pain decreases and then I set about getting ready for the day. As I sit on the terrace I try to pull my eye lashes since it felt like something was in my eye, but it just starts to hurt excruciatingly more. I mess with it for a while, but can’t see anything in it so I figure it will fix itself. After a bit Bethany comes out to see if I am ready to head to the beach. She sees my eye watering from hurting so much. She tries to look inside it, but doesn’t find anything. She ask if I want to go to the doctor, which no I didn’t, but it also hurt so much I figure I should. Bethany calls a cab while also trying to find out where an eye doctor is. She and Derek then went with me to Mytilini. We had seen a couple of eye places along a street during a different visit so we decided to go there. The first eye store we came to was only glasses. Luckily the man there spoke fairly decent English. At first when we asked if he could look at my eye, he just said no and seemed like he wanted us to move along. Then he was asking if we had phone numbers for any eye doctors. We informed him that we did not. He went to his desk and rummaged through the drawers. He pulled out a card and handed it to Bethany. We stepped outside to make a call. They answered, but informed Bethany through broken English that only Monday could we come. We stood around awkwardly for a bit and then walked back into the store. The man asked, and Bethany informed him of their conversation. He returned to his desk, tried making some calls himself with no affirmative results. He then gave Bethany another card to call, but no answer. The third card did not provide anything that would be available on the weekend. The man was apologetic, but said the hospital was the only other option. The hospital was about a 30 minute walk. The three of us set out. Along the way we passed some freshly orange squeezed orange juice…
Side story, freshly squeezed orange juice, ice cream,and shoes are things that Bethany and I will almost inevitably stop for if we pass by…
We wait for our orange juice. Derek is finding the best directions to the hospital and then Bethany’s phone starts ringing with some Greek number. She answers, and it was the second business card she had called. He apparently speaks very clear English. The conservation carries on for a bit, and he offers to prescribe me something through the phone since he’s not usually in the office on weekends. Then he offers that if we can get there in five minutes he will meet us at his office. Derek starts googling and Bethany agrees. We pay for our orange juice and head to his office. We arrive in just under 5 minutes. We walk up the steps after having to ask where exactly the office was located. There are not many lights on and it seems slightly sketchy, but very clean and organized. We knock on the inside door where we guess would be an exam room. The doctor comes out, introduces himself and says he will be out in just a few minutes. We take a seat in the waiting area and talk about how nice the office is, perhaps more so than the ones we’ve been to in America. Several minutes pass by and he comes out with a lady. They speak a few words in Greek and then he says I can come back. Bethany offers to come back with me, and I gladly accept. We go to his desk, and he has the same preliminary questions that would be expected. After the computer work he takes me over to the patient chair. He puts some drops in my eyes and it immediately feels better. He checks my eyes so he can figure out my prescription. Then there are the typical eye exam routine tests. He then takes some little strip things and touches my eyes and puts some other liquid in my eye. He then shines a bright blue light into my eye, and he sees the scratch. Unfortunately, I did not get to see it, but he called Bethany over to look at it. She later describes it to be a scratch all around the bottom half of my iris. The doctor then explains how I have naturally dry eyes and need to be more careful with my contacts. Also, I will not be able to wear them for at least a month. Then he informs me that he would like me to wear an eye patch. I must have had a skeptical look because He explained it would help with the healing. I agree and He smears some salve in my eye and places a large white wad of gauze over my eye with some tape. He prescribes me some eye drops and asks me to return on Monday just as a follow up. He also informs me that the numbing drops he put in will soon start wearing off and then I can just take pain meds as needed. I thank him and we head back out to Derek in the waiting room. With the eye patch I cannot wear my glasses, so I’m very limited in my site. The staircase up was a slight spiral so Bethany was going to guide me. As we walked down she slipped and nearly broke her leg, but caught herself with only a few bruises I think. We then head to the pharmacy. They are so helpful in making sure I understand what to do, and take the time to write the important things in English. I pay 5.20€ and we head out. At this point I’m not feeling up to the beach, but we do make a ice cream stop along the port before heading back.
Important lessons that God taught me are well first of all don’t remove your contacts when they are dry, but also that he will provide what you need when you need it. This was displayed through the Damerons willingness to take care of me. The fact that the Greek eye doctor that spoke clear English decided to call back a random number and that he was at his office on a Saturday. God and his provision are just so exceptional.
This photo basically describes the funness of this day…
