Graham keeps calling it "just a nose bleed" and I'm glad he doesn't remember much of the trauma behind it all. On Friday, Graham went in to have blood work to check his levels. His INR (Coumadin levels - tells the thinness of his blood) were extremely high...5, they want it around 1. So Graham knew that until his number was low, be careful or he'll bleed.
Saturday morning, as we are getting ready for Jordy's tournament, Graham wakes up with a nosebleed (kind of looked like a faucet was turned on, I've never seen that thinness of blood). Kleenex was not working, so we moved on to Tampons. The look on Graham's face after I suggested this was priceless; but he did it anyway. It would not stop. Ladies, you'll understand this...he was bleeding through slim tampons within a minute, regular tampons within 3 minutes, and super within 5-6 minutes. We went ahead and went to Jordy's game - she only had one and it was an 8 o'clock game. It was surely going to stop, right? Graham had to stay in the car. Sting, Jordan's team, shut out the other team and once we got back to the car, Graham was starting to panic not knowing what to do. He called the On Call service and they told him to put ice on his nose and continue packing it with a tampon - and eat spinach (um, he can't eat anything).
An hour later, still gushing, he called again. After waiting an hour with no return call, we went in to the Baylor Emergency Care in Mansfield (I highly DO NOT recommend the weekend Dr). After 3 hours of constant bleeding, they became too afraid to work on him and called for an ambulance. I asked if I could take him, and they denied me..."standard procedure, against the rules, BS, BS, BS." So after another HOUR of waiting, the ambulance finally arrived (emergency facility my ass). Of 37 years of bad health, this was Graham's first ambulance ride. Not as exciting as he imagined. He rode for 50 minutes on a hard board and his butt hurt. Side effect of no meat on your bones.
Now, once we arrived, I had already been tested the whole day with my fear of blood. I was weak, in pain, and nauseous...BUT NO FAINTING! We arrive at the check-in desk and then walks up a Care Flight Pilot holding a Styrofoam cup with a Biohazard Bag stinking out. I accidently said out loud, "Please don't be a finger" and Graham's ENT took it upon himself to have fun with me. He proceeded to ask what was in the cup and the pilot responded, "Oh I got a thumb!" I had to put my head on the counter and inform everyone that I would be fine, I wake up within a minute and DO NOT Code Purple me!!! They need to imagine that I was wearing a DNR sticker on my chest. Luckily, there was no passing out.
Once we got into an ER room, all hell broke lose. Four people began working on him at once, complaining that Mansfield couldn't do anything to help stop this. One was applying oxygen, one was giving him IV pain medicine, the doctor was working on his nose, and one was just flat out in the way. Never figured out that guy and why he was always there. By this point it was estimated Graham had lost over 2 pints of blood. His Hemoglobin level had dropped from 12 to 10 from this morning. His INR was slowly declining, but not fast enough. In Mansfield it was 4 and by Dallas it was 3.4. Graham began choking on blood clots and he was wearing about 1 cup of blood on his clothing. There was some fear of using a "Rhino Rocket" due to his INR and breathing, but the pros now out weighed the cons. A Rhino Rocket is a 7 1/2 inch deflated tampon. Once COMPLETELY shoved up his nose, they inflate it. It is saturated in medicine and complete fills up the nasal cavity. During the shoving, my poor husband was in pure pain. Gagging on blood, pain from the rocket, bleeding out his other nostril and spitting out clots. But once done, the pain meds took effect and the bleeding stopped. You could FINALLY, after 13 hours of misery, see Graham relax.
Just on the other hallway, my Cousin Doug, was in another room with a broken back. He fell something around 15 feet from a tree while hunting. I took this time to go and see him. Luckily, only a couple of vertebrae's were chipped. Yes, this is horrible and painful, but it could be SO much worse. Spinal cord was safe, they were not completely broken, and ligaments looked good, and with time and physical therapy, he should be back to normal. Kim, you were a rock star!
Dr. Rosenblatt left a date with his wife to pay Graham a visit. He admitted Graham into hospital to observe him and let him know he'll be here until Monday. He also told Graham to stop picking his nose :) Finally, we went to our 2nd home on the 10th floor around 9:30. It had been a day, and it was going to be a long night. Graham was in pain, couldn't breathe, and because of breathing O2 through his mouth all day, his throat was beginning to hurt. But the day was done.
Sunday: though there was no bleeding, was no better. His whole head throbbed, he couldn't speak, and couldn't eat. Swallowing his pills began to be a chore. Where he typically can swallow a handful and be done, he could only take a few at a time because he couldn't breathe.
Monday: he went down to the IR lab, you know, the place he almost died, to have yet another "simple procedure." They took a scope and tool up through his groin access and repaired (like a patch) several spots on an arterial vein in his nose. Turns out, he had damage to a big vein in his nose. This with a combination of his high INR is what caused all this mess. His hemoglobin level had now dropped to 7.4 and he was in need of a blood transfusion. As I lay next to the blood bag, our dear child decided to think this is cool and DESCRIBE EVERYTHING. I came very close, but still no passing out. After this, they removed the Rhino Rocket and it was instant - he felt so much better. They still needed to keep him and we fought and won, he would go home Tuesday not Wednesday.
Tuesday: we are still waiting to be transferred down to Photopheresis, but they have already put in the discharge order. He's coming home.
Thank you for the thoughts and prayers. They have been answered. My Grandmother is now at peace with Our Lord, Doug is now home and resting, and Graham will be home today.
***The thought just occurred to me: What if the vein did not fall and did not come through his nose? He would have been bleeding internally and it might not have been caught until it was too late. Thank you God for blessings in weird disguises.
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| My poor baby :( |
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