Brian Ballard knows his property has more sidewalks to trim and edge than most, but he doesn’t mind. The yard work gets him off the couch and outside.
The 74-year-old retired power generation executive, who lives in Henderson, Texas with his wife Margaret, was always careful to wear safety glasses while working in the yard, except once.
“I ran out of line in my grass trimmer, so I stopped and reloaded it with the new line,” he recalled. “I removed my glasses beforehand but forgot to put them back on.”
Within minutes, the grass trimmer hit a rock, which flew up and struck Ballard in his eye.
“The force almost knocked me down,” he said. “My right eye went completely dark. I went inside, told Margaret, and tried to flush my eye out with water. When we saw it was a serious injury, we loaded up the car and went to the emergency room.”
The staff in the emergency department at UT Health Henderson quickly sprang into action when he arrived. They promptly wheeled him back for a CT scan and placed him in a treatment room.
“Dr. Justin Morris put colored drops in my eye to see the injury better,” said Ballard. “I was scared and couldn’t see a thing out of that eye. Dr. Morris said the rock punctured my eye.
Dr. Morris determined that Ballard required a higher level of care and arranged for him to be transferred to a facility in Dallas.
“When you get to the emergency department,” said Dr. Morris to Ballard, “tell them that you are a trauma transfer patient. Give them this folder containing your CT scan, records and all necessary paperwork. They will take it from there.”
With the threat of a severe thunderstorm rolling through the east Texas lowlands, Ballard knew they couldn’t waste time. “So, my son, daughter and wife hopped into the car, stopped for a change of clothes and drove to Dallas.”
Eye care in Dallas
Once Ballard arrived, he was wheeled to a trauma room.
“When I got to my trauma room, eight doctors were waiting for me, including the doctor who had conferred with Dr. Morris,” said Ballard. “There was a seamless transfer to this hospital, all because of the direct communications between the hospitals.”
The doctors determined that Ballard needed surgery to close the puncture wound and make sure no debris remained in the eye socket. Fortunately, before they started surgery, the doctors determined that the wound in Ballard’s eye was closing on its own.
“The next morning, I woke with a patch on my eye,” said Ballard. “When the doctor removed the patch, I could see again!”
Ballard did require medication to regulate the pressures behind his eye. In addition to weekly appointments in Nacogdoches for six weeks, his eyes returned to normal pressures and his vision to 20/20.
“My wife has made it very clear that my days of doing yard work are over, so now I sit in my patio chair and watch the guys mow the grass and trim the edges,” he said. “It's kind of nice. I wish I'd done this a long time ago.”
With more time to travel with his wife, Ballard looks back and thanks the team at UT Health Henderson.
“The cool thing about the emergency department at UT Health Henderson was that they knew right away the seriousness of my injury and they didn’t hesitate to find a solution for me,” said Ballard.
“You can get the care you need right here in Henderson, and if needed, they'll get you to the right place.”
For more information about Emergency Care at UT Health Henderson, visit our website.