Epistaxis

It has been so nice to be free from the hospital for over a week now.  Last night Mom and I were enjoying a little quiet time watching a movie for date night.  J came down around 10:30 with a whimper and tissue plastered to his nose.  He had a nosebleed, or epistaxis (your guess is as good as mine as to the correct pronunciation).


The first observation was that he was scared.  I asked how long he had been bleeding.  His answer (involving a fair amount of grunts and groans) was for a while.  I asked if he was scared.  He nodded his head.  Was he worried the bleeding wouldn't stop?  Another nod yes.  He has no platelets, which are an important part of getting bleeding to stop (hemostasis).  He is also bordering so low with his red blood cells that we had the option to take him to get a transfusion yesterday.  If the counts were lower they would have insisted he come in for a transfusion.  So he's scared that the bleeding is not going to stop and that he's in some life-threatining trouble.

We've talked about first aid several times in the family.  My favorite topic has been how to deal with bleeding.  The main answer is pressure.  I had him pinch his nose real hard with the tissue and hold it there for a long time (he finished the movie with us).

The other observation was that he wasn't bleeding very fast, but his blood was watery and pale.  If you have never seen someone who is anemic bleed, it's pretty striking just how abnormal the blood looks.  I was satisfied he had the bleeding under better control than he thought, so reassurance and pinching his nose was the prescription.

The bleeding stopped eventually.  We didn't have to go to the emergency room.  He lived to see another day.  Sure hope those counts come up soon!