Saterday the 14th I get a bad headache and go to the emergency room around 10:00pm at Togus V.A. in Maine,(about 4 miles from my house). The Doc gives me Hydrocodone and sends me on my way?? You going to check my head or my platelets, I know im low. No your all set.
Get home at 11:00pm, 11:30 nose starts bleeding. I give it 20 minutes and cant get it to stop pouring. I go to Augusta General(3/4 mile from home) and they give me platelets, stop the bleeding, get a CAT scan, and check my blood. I was at 4, and the IV's of platelets only hold about 2 hours.
They ship me by ambulance sunday morning to West Roxbury V.A. in Boston Mass. That place is DIRTY. They put me in a big four man room. I had to clean my whole area every day because it was so nasty, Friday around 2:00am Im sitting in a chair next to the bed reading about the splenectomy Im going to get on friday when a RAT comes running at me from the other side of the room. Im 280lb's and I still scream like a little girl.
It took them a while, but they finally got my platelets up over 50 and operated on friday with iv's of platelets and some other stuff pumping in me. The surgery turned out to be longer than expected because my speen was so big and they had to cut another hole to get it out. Doc said it was from all the platelets the spleen was catching.
I got home sunday around 8:00pm. Platelets are looking good!! Around 2:00pm the CBC said the platelets were up around 240 and climbing still. Pain... this hurts like hell. I thought I over did it on saterday and thought I pulled something or started bleeding in side. The pain and swelling about killed me. It was just to much walking and up and down in the chairs and they had swapped pain meds. I was sure I messed it up and was going to die. A 3 hour car ride home with every bump, pebble, dip and bridge makes for a hell ride.
Im home, platelets look good, few more days of bad pain and I should be home free, I hope.
PS If you have a nosebleed and they give you a choise to "Pack It" or death, take death.
Thank you everyone,
Neil
