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    « almost a criminal | Main | worst case scenario »
    Friday
    Feb092007

    lost & found

    Ok, this is my break from my pneumonia-diseased Jim, strep-throat diseased Aidan, and mild-fevered Davyn.  There has been no throwing up or disastrous messes, and my life is actually much calmer than usual when my boys are sick.  Simply a house of blah.  With not much else to do, I've spent lots of time rubbing feverish little backs as we watch t.v.

    20060407jbHakeemEye_230.jpg

    Yesterday evening we were mesmerized by a show about prosthetic eyes. Random, yes, but it was so interesting to see the process of fitting and making fake eyes. The ocularist becomes an artist. He paints the eye with the patient sitting right there so the colors can be matched precisely. He then adds thin red veins and even applies some red fibers to give realistic vein dimension.

    Aidan got freaked out every time they popped an eye in or out. He squirmed and covered his own eyes often with the exclamation, “I can’t watch this yucky eye.” Davyn would chime in with “me too”, and, not quite *getting* what A was doing, plug his ears instead. It was rather strange to see an empty eye socket, but I couldn’t help but watch.  We were stunned to see that when they insert the eye, it actually has the ability to move. Some kind of magnetics allow this medical miracle.

    It amazes me to discover expertise in areas 100% foreign to me. There is someone out there who lives & breathes fake eyes. Fascinating. It seems crazy that such things are even possible. But, this art is apparently not that new.

    AA895062-D3F0-4BBB-8D84-113EAA886840.jpg 

    A 4800-year-old artificial eye was found in the skeletal remains of a woman at an archeological site in Iran. This discovery floored me. She must have been a princess or in some position of wealth or power to be outfitted so meticulously with this artificial eye.  It was made of a natural tar mixed with animal fat. According to the Discovery Channel, "Whoever made the eye likely used a fine golden wire, thinner than half a millimeter to draw even the most delicate eye capillaries." 

    Crazy precision thousands of years ago….Around the time of the Great Pyramids…of Stonehenge, some rich young princess was being fitted for a fake eye.  Real life (was she nervous, excited?) so long ago…and I was amazed by the *modern* skill on last night's show.

    Random, but semi-related, this was a Real Ad on Craig’s List in the D.C. area:

    “I never knew how much I really liked my fake eye until it left me. After spending the past 11 years together we had become fairly close and for the most part took each other for granted. It was the kinda love I imagine old people have; spending afternoons together enjoying each others company, not having to say a word but just understanding. There was no need for painful confessions of love where the one professing is unsure if its the right time and the one being professed to is scared for their life. I completed my fake eye by providing it a body and it completed me by providing an eye. Now that it is gone I am forced to revert to my old pirate ways. "Arrgh", "shiver me timbers", "walk de plank", "not all pirate treasure is made of gold". All these sayings come back to me like it was yesterday that I was sailing the seas searchin for jewls! Diamonds and emeralds! Gold! Pirate treasure man! In a word...booty. I mised my pirate days but to be perfectly honest I am a bit lonely without my fake eye and I wish it would come home. So if you see it out there in between the seat cushions on the metro, or in the weeds along the W&OD tell it to come home where it belongs.”

    A good laugh on a blah day, but could this possibly be real?  Hmm…perhaps he should make a trade with a certain princess who definitely no longer needs what he so irreverently seeks. 

    Reader Comments (10)

    So bizarre. That pretty much sums up a whole day home with sick kids. At the end of it all you can say is, "hmmm..."
    February 9, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterJordan
    On a scale of 1 to 10 -- how likely is it for Amy to do a blog post on fake eyeballs? I would have put that on a zero likelihood.

    This cracked me up -- I could hardly believe what I was reading on your blog. As strange as it is, it's very interesting. I am fascinated by eyes. They are so amazing to me. Keith and Brynlee are really grossed out by eyes, so this would not be a family show at our house. That ad is crazy!
    February 9, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterKelly
    I would just like to sugest that you leave the house tomorrow and get eight hours of sleep tonight.
    February 9, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterMegan
    I'm dying of laughter as I read these comments! Dang, and I was planning a whole series of posts on prosthetic limbs. Nix that, I guess.

    I seriously can't stop laughing...perhaps I do need to get Out.
    February 9, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterAMy
    Is there perhaps too much mentholatum in your oxygen supply?
    February 9, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterKelly
    Oh gross! I am such a weenie but I can't stand body stuff. I get weak and can't defend myself.

    I worked for 5 optometrists before I had Ryley and only saw a prosthetic eye once. That was enough for me. I so should not have worked there. Ick!!!
    February 10, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterMandy
    I am almost cracking up more at the thought of Mandy working for an optometrist! :)
    Medical science is both fascinating and disturbing to me. I want to get lasik, but I am so afraid of having surgery on my eye that I don't know if I ever will.
    So what do you think the chances are the Aidan wants to be a pirate for Halloween?
    February 10, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterAnnalisa
    This is fantastic! I am drawn to eyes - this artificial business is so amazing to me! I think this fascination started in HS biology with the disection of a cows eye. I know, yuck! But years later it was interesting to me explaining the workings of the inner eye when our son who was 9 at the time - lacerated his cornea and was instantly blind in that eye (freak accident with a broken piggy bank that was plastic...) He now has an artificial lens in that eye - it was so amazing to him and is now inspired to be an eye surgeon.
    Hope your people feel better soon!
    February 10, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterPrice Cream Parlor
    That is crazy Lisa that your son actually has an artificial lens in his eye. It amazes me that that can be done and not even noticed by an outsider. Does it have to ever be checked or changed? Wow.
    February 10, 2007 | Registered CommenterAmy
    Wow, that was very "un-Amy" of a post, but I think it's interesting about the skeleton remains -- I'm always a sucker for history. Nate & I always seem to end up watching weird things like that on the discovery channel, but I never go "research" the thing on Craig's list! How funny!
    February 12, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterMandi

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