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.
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.
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)
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!
I seriously can't stop laughing...perhaps I do need to get Out.
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!!!
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?
Hope your people feel better soon!