Back to photostream

46 with a blast... literally.

Been away a couple of weeks. Had my 46th birthday on the 16th... the following day. All hell breaks loose with my body.

 

I had a tooth partially chip off awhile back. The rest of it was still intact, surrounding a filling that's been there for 30+ years. Although it would pain up occasionally. For the most part, it was under control... not that weekend. Next to kidney stones. I can't think of a worse pain.

 

That Monday I started searching for a dentist, had the tooth pulled, and went home... simple enough.

 

Midway into the evening I started to get sick. With a lot of blood being released through my stools... we're talking buckets here... black as can be... looked like "Texas tea". All because of a tooth being pulled? Didn't seem likely. (and) it wasn't.

 

As it turned out. I had been taking too much Ibuprofen during the course of the past few weeks. Especially so during the previous day. Three here, four there... if I couldn't remember the last time I took one. I would only take two. Soon to be followed by another four.

 

All this created three bleeding ulcers in my stomach. It seemed odd to me that I was bleeding profusely through my bowels. Yet there was no sign of blood when I threw up. The doctor explained it just depended on where the bleeding was taking place. "Logical".

 

They set me up to have a scope(throat) done later in the week. By this time I was so sick. Any simple task would exult me completely. They wanted to do a Colonoscopy as well. But I was too weak to attempt the prep work for that.

 

The morning of the procedure. It took everything I had to get from Bruce's car to the first wheelchair I could plant my ass on... there was no waiting. They took me straight to a bed.

 

My Hemoglobin was 5.6... 13.9 to 16 is considered normal. It was no wonder I kept wanting to pass out. Apparently the under-skin of my eyes were completely white. No blood what-so-ever.

 

During the day long stay. They gave me a blood transfusion(3 pints/bags). Which brought my number up to an 8.7... still not perfect. But much improved. I now have 6 weeks of medication and Iron supplements to finish the ordeal. Feeling much, much better... so far I haven't needed the stool softener(due to the Iron). Something to look forward to. ;-)

 

 

 

 

14,509 views
11 faves
39 comments
Uploaded on August 30, 2009
Taken in August 2009