Usually I write about this being the anniversary of my receiving a call from my hometown baseball team and their offering me a full time job. Usually…
I woke up about 12:30-12:45 AM with some GI discomfort, or so I thought. As I went to the kitchen to get an antacid, I felt something running out of my nose with a consistency more liquid than mucus. As I turned on the light and reached for a tissue I saw it was blood, quite a lot of blood.
I pinched my nose for 20-25 minutes and the bleeding seemed to stop. I think I dosed off in my family room chair for awhile. However, I was awakened about 3:30 AM with blood running out of my left nostril. Off to the Mayo Clinic ER for the third time in three months.
We arrived there at 4 AM. What time do you think I was discharged? 5:30 AM, which I think is amazing for an ER in a big city. The ER doc applied oxymetazoline (brand name: Aftra) to control the bleeding. Those OTC sprays that relieve nasal stuffiness do so by constricting blood vessels. When I told the doctor this he became the fifth physician in the last year to ask me if I was a doctor or had a medical background, etc.
Unfortunately, the bleed was too severe for the oxymetazoline to do the job by itself (I lost enough blood to become quite dizzy) so he had to swab the inside of my left nostril with silver nitrate. That was less than comfortable, but 15 minutes later I was not bleeding so I was discharged.
Nose bleeds are quite common in the dry air of Arizona, but this was the first real nosebleed I have ever had in my entire life. Yes, I have ordered humidifiers for three rooms in the house and yes I will cut way back on my use of ibuprofen. Caffeine is out, too.
Given the nature of the medical issues being faced by others in the family, a bad nosebleed seems quite benign. Still, I can assure you bleeding through many tissues in just minutes is hardly a walk in the park, especially since it had never happened to me before.
I don’t think I will post for the next two days. A little heads-up: it is highly likely that 2025 will see the end of regular posting on the WordPress platform. It may see the end of regular posting, period. Here are some posts curated by me that might be related to today’s.
Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction
#NightOfTheNosebleed