No, it wasn't me who was sick/injured.
Some of you may have remembered my thread about my boyfriend Chris who got a tonsil/adenoidectomy last week. Well, everything was going well up until last night- he was in pain, but was starting to eat some solid food, and was able to talk again (booo, lol). He was also pleased about the fact that he had lost over 15 lbs.
Well, we were staying at my parents' house (6 hrs from home), and I ended up falling asleep on the couch while watching a movie. At around 2am I heard him in the bathroom next to the livingroom- I vaguely remembered him saying something, but I was half-asleep, so nothing really registered. Finally, he came up to me, showed me a paper towel covered in blood, and told me "either wake up you mom or call an ambulance, I need to go to the hospital now" (I don't drive).
One of the scabs on the back of his throat came off while he was sleeping, and apparently it caused an arterial bleed. Chris, ever the nurse, estimated that over 20 minutes, he spat out over 750ml of blood. The bathroom was evidence of this- it looked like someone was murdered in there. There was blood on the walls, down the toilet, on the tank- and the bowl looked like it was filled entirely of blood. My mom remarked that if Chris went missing and the police looked at this bathroom- one of us would be charged with murder.
Of course I ran upstairs, grabbed my mom, and got him to the ER asap. We were there for about two and a half hours (it wasnt a busy night and my parents live in a small city- and the fact that he was bleeding so much made him a priority case), while they took blood for tests and put him on an IV. It turns out some bleeding is normal when the scab comes off- but with some people, depending on where the scab is placed, it can cause a LOT of bleeding....apparently Chris is one of these. The doc said that as long as it tapers off on it's own, and there isn't a loss of consciousness, it will be fine and it's best to leave it alone. If it re-occurs, another surgery may have to be an option. He still has a scab on the other side of his throat, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this one will come off with out a massive bleed. The doc said that if the same thing happened, I will have to bring him to the ER again so they can put him on IV to replenish the fluids again.
It's amazing how something like this will completely put things in perspective and make you realize how pretty damned insignificant vomitting is in the scheme of things. I sat with him in the ER waiting room for about a half hour- it wasn't that busy, but there was a man with fresh track marks wandering around (unsteadily), who could have vomitted- so what. WhenChris got a bed, I sat with him in a room that had about a dozen beds separated by curtains, most of which were full of patients who may have something that could be related to vomitting- so what. A kid who was brought in by the cops unconscious HAD vomitted at some point (dirty towels and a blanket on the floor next to his bed)- so what. None of that really even matters when your mind is focused on something that IS a serious problem- not something that isn't, but that your mind tries to trick you into believing is. Fact vs fiction.
The only thing that really grossed me out was when we got home, guess who had to clean the nasty bathroom at 5am? I knew it was blood (obviously), but the way it was splattered, it looked like it could have been vomit (or rather my mind was seeing it was vomit). It definitely made me gag a bit, but I did it. I tried to see it as practice for when I have kids, and inevitable will have to clean up vomit.
So....that's my tale of last night. We are back in Ottawa now after another lovely six hour drive with the two cats- a little empowered, a lot tired- and hoping not to have to see the wonders of the Ottawa ER tonight.
*amber*
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