Well this was a Christmas to remember. Yesterday morning I was having coffee at my desk when Peter walked into the living room with a hand over his left eye. I asked what happened and he removed his hand and OMG the eye was BLEEDING. He had bashed it on the corner of his bedroom night stand while bending over to pick something up off the floor. I got him to lie down with a damp cloth over his eye while I got ready and then we were in a taxi on our way to Emergency. I wasn’t sure what to expect when we got there because I knew that, like everywhere, Andalucía is having problems with hospital staff shortages. But in fact it was quite orderly and efficient. It was also quite busy, with lots of people coughing in the waiting room. Thank goodness we still have a mask mandate here (for hospitals, pharmacies and public transit) though most people in the room were wearing sloppy fitting surgical masks. We had put on the FFP2 ones I bought for travelling so at least we were a bit better protected.

Anyhow, after a while we got in to see the ophthalmologist on duty (who looked about 14 years old) and after a primary examination he put some drops in Peter’s eye to dilate the pupil and we waited another hour. By this time there was a different doctor on duty (who looked at least 30) and she did some tests to check for any retina or other damage and, other than half his eyeball being blood red, he should be okay. Then we had to find a pharmacy that was open on Christmas Day to fill his prescriptions and stopped for some restorative jamón and sherry on the way home. Peter has to put antibiotic cream in his eye 4 times a day, “tears” every hour and a lubricant cream overnight (with an eye patch). He also needs to keep an eye on (sorry) any changes in his vision, but the doctor thinks he will be fine. What a day! But of course it could have been much worse so it did end up being a Happy Christmas.