Did you not get my message?

Clearly God, the doctors, and my own body didn't get my "enough" message!

One of the side effects of the bone thinner injections is possible nose bleeds. I didn't think much of this possible side effect. I've been getting nose bleeds on and off for the last week or so. Apparently, Taxotere also causes nose bleeds. So really the chances were pretty good that I'd be getting them. The nurse also told me that if the bleeding didn't stop within 10 minutes I needed to go to Emergency.

PART I

It all started Friday afternoon. Within minutes of finishing my workout my nose started to bleed. I sat on the treadmill while my trainer feed me Kleenex. It would start bleeding than stop for a few minutes and then start all over again. After almost 45 minutes, my trainer encouraged me to go to Emergency ... after all, I was close!

I presented myself at Emergency at 3:30 p.m. Handed in my health card, and quickly told them that I was a cancer patient, on chemo, with a port, a blood clot, and taking on blood thinner! Well, that seem to work! I was sent to a room within minutes.

First I met with the nurse who wanted to take blood. That's fine I said, use my port. She was reluctant ... when I asked why ... she said that setting up to take blood from a port was time consuming. I thought to myself this could get very ugly! I stood my ground ... and insisted that she use the port. She did and all was well.

Then I met with a very nice Dr. who said she would have to cauterize my nose. Easy enough ... she froze my nose and went at it. But it didn't stop bleeding. So the next step was to "pack" my nose. Not so easy! I have a little nose ... which makes packing it difficult. If you've never had your nose packed ... they ram what looks like a Popsicle stick up your nose and than shoot saline solution up it to turn it into a sponge. Put it this way it hurts like hell!

Alo the Thrombosis resident (blood clot Dr.) told me to stop taking the blood thinner injections until I see my Dr. on Tuesday. So what does that mean for my blood clot? Apparently there is no chance that the clot will move to my heart or lungs.

By the time it was all said and done it was 7:30 p.m. I was sent home with a prescription for antibiotic, and strict instruction - no hot drinks, sleep sitting up, and if it starts to bleed again come back to Emergency.

PART II

At 4:15 a.m. doesn't my nose start again. This time it's bleeding like a tap. So, I wake Mik up and off we go to the hospital. In the 10 minutes that it takes to get to the General, I went through one roll of toilet paper, a box of Kleenex, and a tea towel.

This time the Emergency room was a little bit busier than earlier. We waited for 15 minutes before being sent back to the exact same room. Again, the nurse wanted to take blood and hook me up to an IV ... no problem I thought ... use my port. She said she would use my port for the IV but still need to draw blood from my arm. I told her that I was comfortable with that approach - since 1. nobody can find a vein, and 2. I don't like needles. She tried anyways ... and guess what ... after poking around looking for a vein in my arm she decided to use the port. So far this visit was not going well.

Then the Dr. comes in. Dr. Van P ... we'll just call him Dr. Yummy. He was so cute! Even Mikeala was checking him out. He looked at my nose, pulled out a couple of HUGE blood clots and the old packing, and told me that he would have to re-pack my nose. Lovely I thought ... sedate me. At first he was agreeable but then he told me that I may stop breathing from the sedation ... OK I said ... but then heavy duty pain meds are a MUST. He agreed. Excellent we're both on the same page. He ordered up the IV meds, froze my nose a couple of time, and then pack it. It was fine ... no problem.

My next step is to go back to the hospital on Monday to have the packing removed. Please for the love of God, give me a break ... enough is enough!!