Almost a week ago I was finishing up an article that was due to my manager, had it entered in CMS and was starting to fill in the blanks in Asana when I got a call from my sis.  That was at 11:30 at night.  She’s usually in bed by about 10 so immediately bells went off.

She said she was bleeding pretty bad and needed help.

Holy fuck balls.

I dropped everything and literally ran next door.  The back door was open, the door that leads to the kitchen from the back entry was open, and there was blood everywhere on the floor, on the door jamb, in the kitchen, in the dining room and bloody towels on the floor.

It took me a minute to find out what had happened and as I was finding out, she was holding a blood soaked towel to her calf.  I had her sit down immediately and put her leg up on a chair as I grabbed the towel and put as much pressure on the area as I could with my steely 68-year old thumbs.

She said something about a tourniquet, I said something about the emergency room.  I wasn’t going for a tourniquet as I know direct pressure is the best answer to bleeding issues if the area is small enough to put direct pressure on it.  She said no to the emergency room.

I had her lean back in the kitchen chair and put her leg clear up on the dining table top as I kept the pressure on.

And told her to relax as much as possible and draw in some easy, relaxing breaths.

She has a couple of bad vein spots in her legs.  One I had particularly noticed during the time we were together at the family reunion that was about the size of a dime and distended about a quarter of an inch, like a little bubble. I’ve noticed a few other bad spots around her calf on the other leg but it is more like an under-the-skin hematoma where the blood filled some of the smaller veins and simply sets there after it leaks out into the surrounding area.  They aren’t pretty but they aren’t really dangerous either.  I have one on the inside of my knee, no bulges, just purplish discoloration and not attractive.

I kept the pressure on for about 6 to 8 minutes and asked if she had some gauze pads.  Yes, in the bathroom cabinet, and an elastic bandage.

She put her leg up against the edge of the chair — pressed firmly — to keep the pressure on the spot and I went for the bandages. When I came back, I started to remove the towel and she thought it would start running blood again but it was neatly sealed up.  The wound was quiet small, surprisingly, for all the blood and insanity it caused.

I covered it with the gauze and wrapped the elastic bandage fairly snug and told her to keep her leg up while I started cleaning up blood.  It was really uncanny how much she seemed to have lost, and she is a small person, which, IMHO, makes it even worse.  I suppose it wasn’t as much as it seemed but it was frightening to say the least.

She has passed courses in her truck driving career that require first aid – but possibly it was because it was HER blood that was flowing so freely that she just panicked and wasn’t clearly thinking about direct pressure.

I can only say I’m extremely happy I was right there and able to come to her aid.

She was exhausted…I was too…and I headed for home after I knew she was OK.  Before I left I asked her if she had support socks (I was sure she did because we have both had surgeries this last year and they give them to you at the hospital) and she did.  I asked her to wear one over the bandage.  She said she would.

The next day I checked on her first thing.  She said she had woke up in the night with her leg/foot half asleep because the bandage was a bit snug.  She rewrapped it and went back to sleep.

All’s well…except that I’m nagging her to go see our doctor and find out about having that little squiglet sealed or cauterized or something.

What happened was she had just gotten out of the shower and she said it had been itching the last few days.  She bent over to scratch (gently) and as soon as she touched it, it popped.

Damn!  I remember being at Quick Care late night in Vegas for allergies years ago and a heavy set woman with varicose veins as big as my thumb came in bleeding.  One of them had broken while she was at work.  That kind of thing freaks me out.  I want to scream “Fix them!” because they are really scary.  And if you’re taking any blood thinners, like aspirin, etc., they are worse.

OK, I have pictures of a magnificent desert sunset that begs to be adored and admired by as many as possible. Once you click on them and they load, click again for a bigger picture.

Ain’t that just damn cool!  Laters.