A Toothache

It was 2am. I had told Mark I would be in the field to help him around 3. I wondered if BJ was still out. He had headed for a job on the county line around 8pm.

 After getting up I took some Tylenol for my horrible toothache and decided to sit a bit on the porch until the medication kicked in.

It was just a few minutes later when BJ came on the 2-way and asked if anyone had a copy. His voice sounded like he was in trouble. After immediately jumping up and responding he asked if I would pick him up. I asked if he was burnt. He said yes, in his eyes. I can count on one hand how many times I felt what I was feeling. Helpless, weak, and scared. He was working on a bottom and had no cell service. I grabbed 3 bottles of water and jumped into the closest vehicle, Jan's pickup. The drive was about 20 miles.

Of the 100 plus tanks BJ applied this fall he wore his goggles on every hookup. However on this occasion he had just gone back to make sure no knives were plugged. 

He thought there may be a knife in question so he ran a wire up the tube from the bottom to check for dirt. No problems. He still wasn't 100% sure it was working so he pulled the hose off. No problems. When he ran his wire down from the top of the tube NH3 literally squirted 6 feet high and straight into his eyes.

He knew he had to find water fast and he couldn't see. He remembered his water bottle was beside his tractor seat so he felt his way to the cab and flushed out his eyes. He also folded up his rig and tried to find his way out of the field because he needed cell phone service and was sure no one would be on the 2-way in the middle of the night. He tried anyway.

At the ER they had these contact lenses with tubes attached to them. They flushed his eyes for 2 hours. In between flushes they would measure the ph in his eyes. BJ asked if we could pray together. Cassia, Becky, Mike, Karl, and I stood around his bed, held hands, and asked God to please spare his sight.

Iowa City was requesting BJ be there by 8am so they loaded him up and let Cassia ride along.

After flushing his eyes for another 4 hours in Iowa City the ph levels stabilized and the process of determining the damage started.

He has 100% of his cornea burnt in one eye and 70% burnt in the other. The cornea is the outer layer of our eyeball. The cornea does have the ability to heal with proper blood flow and no infection.

Late on Thursday they sent BJ home with 7 or 8 different medications to be taken or applied every 2 hours. The clarity of his eyesight comes and goes. Cassia is doing a marvelous job of taking care of him. They go back to Iowa City on Monday. The doctors said they would be seeing a lot of each other before this is over.

Below Gideon loves his Daddy and wants him to feel better. Accidents remind us how much we actually care about each other.

I'm also thankful how our team covered for each other. Thursday Ryan covered my responsibilities. Brad, Kurt, Alex, and others loaded BJ's calves and delivered them to a special feeder calf sale to be sold on Friday. Mark and his boys dug in tile intakes for BJ on Friday and Saturday so Mike could continue building terraces. I'm also so very thankful for friends that offered their well-wishes, thoughts, prayers, and help.

Thank you God that BJ can see. Thank you he has a chance for a full recovery. Thank you for a toothache that got me up but kept me in the house long enough to hear and help.