Monday, May 23, 2011

It's already been a year

Last year on this day, May 23, I was shot in the eye point blank with an airsoft gun.
It was a Sunday afternoon while me and my friends were having a friendly game at our local field. A few games passed and everyone was starting to get tired. The breaks we had in between each game was getting longer and longer as time passed.
During what seemed to be the last break of the day before we head out to play the final match, my friend walks over to me while I was getting my gear ready. Being in the safe zone, I had taken off most of my protective gear to cool off from the hot day. Everyone in that zone did the same, all guns should have its safety on so there was nothing to worry about.
So going back to my friend, he walks over to me and thought it would be funny to shoot his gun and have a small blast of air go to my face. He removed the magazine from his gun so he thought nothing would shoot out, people forget that there can still be a BB even after removing the mag. He calls my name, as I turn my head to look up at him BAM! The BB hit my right eye. I became instantly blind, it hit right in between the iris and sclera. My eyelids didn't even get hit, I had my eye wide open.
Wanna know something ironic? A week before I just bought myself ballistic goggles, the same ones the military uses. I bought them to prevent something like this from happening while playing. My first reaction was to put my hand towards my eye and keep my eye closed. Then started to yell out "What the F***", "Why would you do this" and all that stuff.
My yelling soon attracted other players and crowded to see what has happened. The field owner soon came over and asked what happened. He told he to show him my eye was I was afraid to find out how bad it was.
Thankfully the BB just bounced off instead of going inside. (The gun I was shot with was shooting at around 300 fps) By then people had already called for an ambulance, but I was already thinking ahead. I told my friend to take me to the hospital instead. I had no insurance at the time and I didn't want the the ambulance ride to build up the medical bill I knew was coming.

So skipping the rest of what happened that day. My parents thought it be best for me to seek medical attention at a better place. So around June, I went to Japan to stay with my relatives there and get better medical care for my injury. I stayed there for 3 whole months before returning home.
 On a small side note: next week is my birthday, so guess what I was doing on my birthday last year. haha
I stayed in bed with an eye patch.

This picture is kinda gross. <-Click to see the picture.
In the link is some post-operation pictures of my eye. I took these pictures with my DSi, I took a picture daily so I can see for myself how much better it was getting. (Problem with these pictures is that I used my camera to take a picture of the DSi screen since I didn't have a memory card in my DSi to transfer them properly.)

I still enjoy playing airsoft today but I am more careful about safety now. My friend who shot me is still my best friend. I don't regret anything because I was able to go to Japan again and see my family there as well as have a mini vacation. It's also the time I started talking to a girl, who when I got back, became a good friend then became the girl that I love. She means everything to me now, and I don't know if we would have ended up together if this didn't happen.

So what I say to you, is to always look at the bright side of life.


48 comments:

  1. Youch, sounds painful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are VERY lucky, a kid from around my area wasn't as lucky, it was an actual lead pellet. The whole thing was an accident and I'm sure both parties are severely injured, emotionally and physically.

    Now if you want to get beat up you can call the victim a pirate, let's put it that way.

    Moral of the story is, "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye."

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love to read this kind of story! post more, i will watch. Enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. very lucky man, that could have made you blind, but at least you got to go to japan, I would love to go to japan... jealous ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  5. Take cary buddy! I know how irritating eye-problems can be.

    ReplyDelete
  6. crazy! I'm really paranoid about my eyes, losing vision would be the worst

    ReplyDelete
  7. aw..., i've got chill down on my spine when imagine that
    your vision is blurry, is it like eye minus/plus ?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh man, my eyes started watering from looking at that pic.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I forgot to say, happy birthday for next week man ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  10. you see the bright side indeed, even if it's blurry, lol ;)

    You can visit my blog here.

    ReplyDelete
  11. i too have been shot in the eye, didnt need surgery but it hurt and vision was blurry for a few weeks

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks for the support everyone. Also no hating on the friend who shot me, it was an idiotic accident but he did helped me a lot with the medical bill and he is still my good friend.

    As for my current vision. My left eye is still perfect 20/20, my right eye could forever be blurry but its still better than nothing.

    haryudanto: My eye doctor tried to give my glasses, but it only helps a little. Didn't get them cause my left eye still works perfectly.

    Burn Paradox: Thanks for the early Birthday greeting.

    Buzbee: For some reason getting shot in the eye didn't hurt that much. The operation was a different story. I had to be conscious during the procedure.

    ReplyDelete
  13. dude, that must've sucked. glad you're getting better bro.

    oh, and happy birthday for next week :P

    Following

    ReplyDelete
  14. Glad you are able to see, I recently had operation on my eye actually i broke several bones in my face and one of my orbital bones was sticking into my eye, I traveled hours to boston to get medical attention there and stay with family i feel your pain, thankfully my sight is fine

    ReplyDelete
  15. That totally blows man, I had shot my friend in the eye a few years ago too. I'm pretty sure that was the first time I've ever seen a semi-grown man cry. +followed for more.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'm sorry for you, and I hope you'll get better. And I would be scared if I was conscious during a surgery...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Dude... that's too bad. I understand some of the injuries of such things.

    When I was in my swordsmith's smithy, I was NOT wearing safety glasses, and a piece of slag hit me in the eye!

    Talk about a not fun time.... very very hot metal flying into your face.

    Safety first man, safety first.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm glad it had a happy ending.

    ReplyDelete
  19. It's good that it has turned out positively for you but still, ouch!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Ouch. Well at least you always look up int life, it's great you're still friends with that guy :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Cant belive how lucky you where, I had some experience with ASGs and I would NEVER assume the gun is clear of bbs... goddamnit what was that guy thinking?!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Wow, lucky you can still see, glad everything was mostly ok in the end.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Dooh, that must be hurt. But hey, the ending is happy, I envy you :P

    ReplyDelete
  24. I don't normally read posts this long bro, but I did for this one and it's a great story.
    Optimism like this keeps the world going.
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  25. dude thats shocking...accidents happen i guess...pretty dumb of your friend...but hey im glad you are still buddys....i wouldn't be...well ok i would have said "an eye for an eye" haha

    ReplyDelete
  26. oh man, that's a heavy story. I'll definately be wearing safety glasses more

    ReplyDelete
  27. ouch man! Glad to hear its all working out for you!

    ReplyDelete
  28. what a story... you are a survivor haha, i'm glad it ended well

    ReplyDelete
  29. You dealt with getting shot in the eye a lot better than I would have. :P

    On the plus side, though; everything does seem to happen for a reason - as you said, you might not have met that girl otherwise. Some good from some bad. Your karma must be in good balance. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  30. Wow, you're lucky. I knew a kid that got shot in the eye with an airsoft gun and it got lodged in there, it messed with his eyesight for life.

    ReplyDelete
  31. it hurted only seeing the picture lol be careful!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Well, nice ending for your story, not always the case.

    ReplyDelete
  33. wow looks like that hurt!. Im glad everything seemed to turn out alright for you in the end

    ReplyDelete
  34. I've never played with airsoft, I sure want to do that. Going to get some protective gear first though

    ReplyDelete
  35. Sucks, but at least if you ever get the desire to you could probably pull off a monocle

    ReplyDelete
  36. wow, that's amazing. You're very lucky!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Wow, that really sucks. Do you still see/talk to your friend? I bet he feels really bad :/

    ReplyDelete
  38. Good thing you didn't loose anything, are you guys still friends? Sounds a bit harsh in your situation.

    ReplyDelete
  39. lol at the above comment
    Dude, I remember when that happened to me the first time ._.
    But it's cool you remembered the date it happened XDDD
    Kudos

    ReplyDelete
  40. wow i was about to gag when i saw the picture hope your eye is as good as new

    ReplyDelete