About six months ago we visited Sharon in Southern Arizona (South of Tuscon) and had to cancel several planned side trips due to the infamous exploding nose. Quite frustrating. Each explosion lasted about an hour and I was exhausted with the loss of blood. The big one in Prescott went on forever, it seemed at the time, another hour-long extravaganza.
Today, the day before we leave for 19 days in the UK, I looked up and saw a bunch of cars parked down by Sue's house and wondered what that was about -- and then I remembered, she was having a tea for a potential politician she was supporting. After she extended an invitation (and I accepted knowing it would be tight) I looked further into him and his politics and, yes Sue, I did vote for him on my absentee ballot; I failed to put it on my calendar and completely forgot about it. Well, he got my vote and as far as Sue knows, I'm just a lousy no show. My bad.
I was in the middle of last minute chaos and trying to organize my thoughts. Acceptable earrings. CRAP, I needed to put my diamond studs in the safe and grab my gold hoops and studs that I wear when traveling. Off to the safe, grab what I need and march back into the kitchen. I've been dealing with a drippy nose all day, such an aggravation. Grab a Kleenex to wipe my nose and there is blood everywhere! Oh good grief, I simply don't have time for that.
Sit down, head back, tissue crammed into both nostrils, try to relax, breath through the mouth, squeeze top of nose. Last several bleeds lasted a few minutes and this should be no difference.
After about 15 minutes of heavy bleeding, I move to the sofa (because the bed is covered with my clothes) so that I could lay down. Gary is concerned and grabs his phone. He googles "How to Stop a Nosebleed". He starts reading: sit up and slightly forward (what?!) Something to do with gravity. I leaned over the trash can and simply bled directly into it while pinching the bridge of my nose, no slowing down. After what felt like about 40 minutes I announced that I was ready to go to the Emergency Room.
Mind you I had my physical YESTERDAY! BP was 136/62 and A1C was a perfect 5.0, he took me off one of my meds. Down 35 pounds since retirement and feeling great. What the heck? I need to be on a very long plane ride in just over 24 hours!
In the ER I looked at the clock: it was 7:00 I had been bleeding for 2 hours, not 40 minutes. And my BP was 179/92 (oops I forgot to take my BP med this morning).
This is my very first experience in an ER (and with luck it will be my last). The place was jammed! Gary had to go park the truck and the Security Guard brought me a wheelchair, he was very kind and gentle -- but I get unnerved around guns and he had a big one on his hip. I sincerely appreciated his help and thanked him profusely, I no longer had to stand. Someone from triage pulled me into a room and ask the thousand questions ... the first was my birth date which I thought was odd. I gave her that info, then she asked my last name. I answered and then said, I'm not in your system, I've never been here. And she looked at me and said, "Sharon Beaumont?" What the heck? I LOVE EHR (Electronic Health Records). My Primary Care Physician is somehow connected to Yavapai Medical Center and they could just grab his records. The records were updated yesterday with a brand new allergy I've never had before and she asked me about it! Wow, I was impressed. She grabbed a nose closer and jammed it on my nose:
This little plastic charm clamps down HARD on your nose!
After four of them committed suicide we finally got one to hang on.
Then she went on: is this from a trauma or did it simply explode? Seriously? Look at me! No black eyes, no broken nose, just blood and its EVERYWHERE! She was also kind and asked more questions about pain and illness and and and. No, I'm fine or will be when we can make this stop! She promptly put me into CC3 (critical care unit, room 3) and a very nice nurse, Brandon, asked me about 3,000 more questions. And then we waited.
The RN had helped me out of my shirt and into a gown. It wasn't until we were leaving that I got a look at the front of my shirt -- COVERED in dried blood. Gross, it's in the trash now. (Sharon, it was my red super cute shirt from Jerome, now we need to go back!)
And it bled for another 30 minutes. And then it slowed down. And then it stopped. I asked Gary for the Afrin from my purse.
I visited an ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat) doc about six months ago and he suggested Afrin which will cause all the swelling to release. Turns out it's not worth a thing if you can't snort (I'm terribly afraid I've ventured into overshare-land, sorry, I need to get this out of my system). One of the things that I do when I'm disturbed is write. Really, there is some good stuff in this if you don't know much about Epistaxis.
No more bleeding. Good. But feeling rather gross. And then BAM I start coughing and gagging and finally hacked up two ENORMOUS blood clots. And the clouds parted and the angels sang. The swelling didn't just go down, it disappeared! "Gary, grab the Afrin!" I snorted it and felt like a new person.
It took about another 30 minutes for the doc to come in. She looked around and couldn't discern anything looking like something she could cauterize, so recommended I continue with the Aryn saline gel and have a very fine time in the UK. Departing BP was 149/79. Remember this is without my BP med today. I was happy -- and thrilled to be going home at 9:00pm.
Our shuttle picks us up at noon tomorrow. I have much to do before then. Thinking I'll remember to take my meds in the morning! Afrin is your friend -- but no more than 3 days otherwise it causes all kinds of problems. I meant to ask about the sitting up and leaning forward -- that sounded so counter intuitive -- but I'm not an MD.
The doc gave me a lovely parting gift (loved that that is a quote from her!): my very own traveling noseclip...just in case!
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