A Trip to Jekyl Island … I Got More Than I Planned!

We had a first floor, beachfront room that was really nice.  I could sit in a chair outside and see the waves and listen to the surf.  There was a constant breeze that was wonderful.  Since I love to take pictures, I took several and managed to get a few really nice ones.  For the most part, I really enjoyed this even though I did not get to walk the beach as I love to do.  However, just being near the ocean is always a soothing experience for me and I always love every minute of it.  

I really had planned to attend some of the activities at the conference with my husband, but that was not what happened. On the way to Jekyl Island we grabbed a bite to eat, and something I ate did not agree with me. It really messed with my stomach. I stayed at the motel while Tom went to the conference events.

On Friday, I was making frequent trips to the bathroom and stomach cramps, so I stayed there again. Friday evening about 10:30, I stepped outside of the room and I felt something running out of my nose, then something out of my mouth. It was blood. I called to Tom who was asleep. He rushed to get me something so I could get inside to our bathroom. I had blood all over the concrete outside our door. I just kept bleeding and it got heavier. It was unbelievable how much blood was coming out my mouth and my nose. The hotel called the island fire department because they have an ambulance.

By the time they got there I had lost about a pint of blood. They rushed me to the hospital where they proceed to try to stop the bleeding which they finally did about 4 a.m. The doctor said I had an arterial nose bleed. He gave me some spray to take with me to use if it started again.

I had swallowed a lot of blood, so on Saturday it was run to the bathroom all day again. That evening, I started to bleed again. I used the spray and eventually got it stopped. On Sunday, we headed home early because of me. We got about an hour and a half from home and stopped for gas. I went to the bathroom. Suddenly, blood was rushing out of my nose and mouth again. I managed to get to the car. I sprayed my nose, but the bleeding was so bad that Tom took me to the emergency room there. We still had a long ways to go and there was really no hospital between there and home.

We got the bleeding slowed down enough at the hospital that the doctor released me to continue home. My nose oozed all day and evening. Last night, I had another round of bleeding, but again I managed to stop it. This morning, Tom called my ENT and got me in for 10 a.m. He sprayed my nose and use a laser to cauterize it. He sent me to the hospital lab to for blood work, and to check my clotting rate.

We drove across town to the hospital to get the test because that was the only place they could do the clotting rate. My clot rate was 12 minutes which is a dangerously long time. While the lab technician was doing the required second test, I started to bleed from my nose and down the back of the mouth. I had blood on my blouse and the lab technician was in panic mode. I had it happen enough time in the past few days that I was calm, and proceeded to follow the basic instructions I had been given. I got it slowed down enough, I told her I needed to go to the car where my husband was waiting. I wanted to call my doctor back, because I thought he would want me back at his office. Sure enough, he did.

I returned to the ENT's office and he repeated the procedure. He also decided to take a look inside my nose with a camera to see farther back. He saw an area in the posterior section that looked like a problem. He put some kind of (dissolving) chalk inside deep to try to block that area. He is scheduling me for a scan to really see what is going on in all the sinus cavities. He was also concerned with my clot rate, so he is scheduling an appointment with a hematologist to find out what is the causing the slow clotting.

I find it amazing that since I am not on any kind of blood thinner, I bruise at  the slightest bump  and bleed profusely.  However, I am more amazed that this has been going on for three years and my ENT doctor is the first to run a blog clot test and follow up to find out why.

“The thing for all of to remember is that when things get bad, hang in there. We must remind ourselves that things will always get better. After a storm, the sun will shine again. It may be a few minutes later, a few hours, or even a few days. But it will always happen.” ~  Unknown