Epistaxis = nosebleed. I've been having nosebleeds occasionally, but have been able to get them stopped in about 10 minutes. But early this morning I had a doozy of a nosebleed! After an hour I called 911. There was so much blood from one nostril that it fed over into the other nostril, and down my throat. With both nostrils plugged, I was mouth-breathing, and getting a very dry mouth. Just try getting a drink of water while holding your nose closed and trying to sip without a straw. I'd get a little water in my free hand and slurp it up, because if I tilted my head, all that blood would run down my throat, and that's not a good thing.
When the paramedics arrived, I thought about going back and getting my book before I got into the ambulance. I should have done it. I had a lot of time to read in the hospital. And I should have gotten my bathrobe, too. I ran out of Kleenex in the ambulance, so the paramedic gave me a stack of 3x3 gauze pads.
Once in the hospital examining room, I had to ask for more 3-bys. And I dearly wished I had brought my bathrobe. Those examing rooms are f r e e z i n g!! One of the non-nursing staff saw I was turning blue, and brought me a blanket from the blanket oven. Nice.
I got registered, IV'd, plugged into the monitor, and waited. And waited some more. All the time coughing up blood and holding 3x3s to my nose. And trying to breathe. Eventually a nurse came in and said the doctor wanted some blood samples for the lab. I had the same tests done last Monday. Any more blood draws, and I'm gonna need a transfusion.
Wouldn't you know it. As soon as the doctor walked into the room, the bleeding stopped. So then we waited for the lab results, and when they came back, everything was fine. I called Joan and told her I was being discharged, but not to rush because that didn't mean I was actually going to be ready to leave for a while. You know how hospital discharges go.
Well, I was so surprised! The nurse came in almost on the heels of the doctor, removed the IV, gave me printed instructions on don't bend over, don't lift, don't blow the nose, don't even touch the nose for 12 hours. Oh, and don't sneeze. Have you ever tried to prevent a sneeze? Well, good luck with that. *eye roll*. The nurse escorted me to the pay to get out window, and I presented my plastic get out of jail card. It couldn't have been ten minutes from the time I called Joan until I was in the waiting room waiting for her.
Well, since I'd told her no hurry, she stopped on the way and got herself a nice cuppa from Peet's Coffee & Tea Shop. When I got home, dawn had been well broken, and I was ready to go back to bed. I read the Sunday paper instead, starting with the funnies. Oh yes, and I set all the clocks back one hour. I did get a nap later in the afternoon.
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Now for the REAL NEWS. My Baby missed by this () much of being Mensa-qualified. She could have been the second youngest child admitted to the order. She was well on the way, but when they got to the "sequencing" part of the test, she got bored and refused to finish.
Gryffan and I talked about how he would work with her to help her continue her focus even when it's "boring stuff." Actually, the school system and the world will insist that she learn to stick with the boring part of accomplishing a task, so she'd better start now. This is very physically active child, and it's going to be tough for her, but I have every confidence that My Baby DiDi will be maybe the third? or maybe the second youngest, after all,to be admitted. She'll get there.
I knew the child was smart, she says smugly.
Bless