Jinxed her...

Let me look back at a sentence in a previous post..."Without these little buggers, her body would not be able to stop a simple nose bleed, have massive bruising from a simple bump, or worse." Those little buggers, platelets, decided to take an early exit and stop doing their job. Today, a simple nose bleed did not stop for 7 hours! Like that noisy faucet in the night, drip, drip, drip, it would not stop. We went to Carla's schedule appointment today, only after the nasal faucet was dripping for over 4 hours.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platelet

Once we got in the office, they drew blood labs. While waiting to determine the platelet count, the staff tried everything but voo-doo to slow the flow. Sit forward, ice behind the neck, pinch your nose below the cartilage, pinch your nose across the bridge, pack tissue in your upper lip, self clamping nose clip, expandable nasal balloon on stand by. Blood work came back in 45 mins. Her platelet count dropped from 56000 to 13000 in 3 days(15000 should be the lowest you go). Time for another bag a yellow gold, it flowed full force into her veins. Yes, platelets are yellow. Kerry the nurse had it flowing like a Las Vegas night club free pour of alcohol. Not 5 mins after the bag was empty, the bleeding stopped.

Every day we learn something new. These learning experiences can take an emotional and physical toll on you. When it was over, Carla was her "normal" self, and she stopped in to visit a fellow leukemia patient for quick minute before going home. That patient's name is Lisa H.

Lesson learned: If it flows, we've got to go. Go to the hospital that is.