I'm supposed to shove that...up there? My Journey with Menstrual Cups

Pre-Warning - this blog post contains information about female health issues and may not be appropriate for those who just don't understand.

After the Fibroid bleeding episode, the Gynaecologist put me on a drug called Fibristal, which is supposed to shrink the fibroid, and also stops your menstrual cycle for 3 months.  I started this med right after I had the blood transfusions, and it took about a week to start working.  It stopped my period for the entire first round of three months, which may have been the best three months of my life, well besides being physically and emotionally run down, having no period for three months was amazing!  My gynaecologist had instructed me to stop taking the drug at the three month mark, let my body have a menstrual cycle, and then start the drug the first day of the next cycle (the first day you start to bleed).

When I stopped taking the drug, I thought I would instantly get my cycle.  Nope, turns out that it takes a while for the drug to come out of your system, for me it was two weeks.  For a whole two weeks before it started, I needed to wear a dreaded pad around because I wasn't sure if I was going to spontaneously start bleeding buckets.  My choice in pads has always been Kotex Security Ultra Thin Pads, Long without Wings.  They just seem to be the most comfortable (as if a pad could ever be called comfortable) for my body shape and activity level.

As for tampons, from the time I first started wearing them, I have always been a fan of o.b. Applicator Free Tampons, Super Plus.  For me they are the most comfortable going in, and the most comfortable coming out.  They are however the messiest!  It sometimes looks like a murder scene after using on a super heavy day.

On a side note, I swear to god I should have bought stock in Kotex and o.b. years ago.  To think about just how much feminine product has been used by just one person over the past 25 year (yes I started my period young, 9 to be exact), it blows my mind.  Just a quick calculation of $20 a month for 25 years times 12 months in a year is $6000.  Thanks Mom for fronting me on on the feminine products for the first decade!

About two weeks after I stopped taking Fibristal, I felt that familiar feeling of cramps and I knew my cycle would start any time.  The cycle started on a Friday after work, and it started out like usual, light the first couple of days.  As instructed by the doc, I started taking my second round of Fibristal on the first day of my cycle.  Stupid me thought it would stop within a day or so of taking the meds again.  I was sorely wrong, it actually lasted about 21 days and was mostly heavier than normal, but fortunately not bleeding to death heavy like the last one.

I had two episodes at work where I had huge clots accompanied by a flow of blood that soaked right through a super tampon and a ultra-long pad.  Luckily I was carrying around the hospital bag still because I was nervous I was going to have to go back to the hospital if I had a hemorrhaging event again.  I became very a tune to carrying my purse with me to all of my meetings, to the cafeteria, anywhere I went basically.

At day 14 (yes you read that right) of my cycle, I was seriously getting tired of dragging a pharmacy around with me every day.  I was at Shoppers Drug Mart picking up more pads and tampons and I saw the Diva Cup.  I had always heard about menstrual cups, but never really paid much attention to them.  I decided to read the boxes and maybe give one a try.

Who knew that menstrual cups had different sizes.  Shoppers Drug Mart had two sizes, the Diva Cup Model 1 Pre-Childbirth, which was for those who have not had a child ☑ and those who were under 30 ☒.  Sounds like this one was not for me.  I checked out the other box, the Diva Cup Model 2 Menstrual Cup, which was for those who had had a baby ☒, or were over 30 ☑.  Who knew that 30 was the magic age when your vagina expanded!  It seemed as if Model 2 was the one that I should try.  I checked out the price $40, which was a little shocking at first, but at least I would get Shoppers Optimum Points!  PS, you can get the Diva Cup for much cheaper online.  There are some Amazon links below if you want to check one out!

I took the Diva Cup home and thought I would give it a try while my husband was still at work.  After unwrapping the cup, I was a little shocked at how large it was.  I was thinking "I'm supposed to shove that...up there?"  It was like half the size of my hand.  The instructions were pretty intensive for a what seemed to be a rubber cup with a tail.

After I read through all of the instructions, I bravely tried inserting the cup in the curled position, which took a good couple of tries but it eventually went in and seemed to have popped in place.  To my surprise, I couldn't really feel it at all, which is amazing because I can feel pretty much ever tampon, especially those that are not o.b.

I left the cup in for a few hours before I tried taking it out.  I assumed that after a few hours, it would be filled to the brim based on how horrifyingly full tampons seem after a couple of hours.  I am not going to lie, yanking this thing out wasn't quite as easy as popping it in place.  I read the instructions again, because I was a little concerned about the "suctioning to your uterus" that I read about.  I was expecting a messy disaster with blood everywhere, so I busted out some baby wipes.  Why I have baby wipes you may ask; answer is dog paws!

So I sat on the toilet and got into a similar position as was in the graphic, and could feel the stem of the cup.  I fished around for a few minutes, not being able to grab the stem.  I pushed down just a little bit so the stem was a bit further out and then hooked the edging around the stem with my nails.  That seemed to be the magic...grabbing it with your nails.  Once I got a good grip on it, I pulled, which probably wasn't the smartest idea.  The cup, as it was designed to do, was suctioned to my insides.  Armed with the info from the pamphlet, I knew that I had to break the suction.  It seemed that squishing the bottom of the cup will break the seal.

Once the seal broke, it came out pretty effortlessly.  What I saw next was really the most shocking.  There was literally about a 10th of an ounce of blood in there, it looked like such a small amount.  Had I been wearing a tampon for that amount of time, it would have been filled to the brim and leaking onto a pad.  There was a tiny tiny amount of leakage onto the pad, like a drop.  I dumped the blood that had collected into the cup into the toilet, which immediately turned crimson red.  Who knew such a small amount of blood caused so much mess with normal feminine routines.  I cleaned out the cup as instructed and then popped it back in to wear overnight.

The next morning, I was shocked to see that I hadn't leaked at all during the night.  When I took the cup out, it had filled up about 1/4.  It was comfortable all night, I didn't feel it at all.  I proceeded to wear the cup pretty much day in and day out for about a week.  After the 3rd day I did start to get a bit irritated from the stem rubbing, but it wasn't nearly as bothersome as wearing a tampon.  I did learn a very important lesson, don't cut your nails when you are wearing the cup, it becomes almost impossible to get a hold of to pull out.

During the week of wearing the cup, I did have two days when I had the cup fill up completely.  The amount of blood and clots that was collected was about what I would have lost those couple of days I had big clots and pad spilling over episodes at work.  This time I could feel the cup filling up, and had enough time to get to a washroom and empty the cup.  Pulling the cup out when it is full was quite tricky, but it did not look like a crime scene like a pad/tampon combo does with this much blood.  My undies and pants were also spared leakage, which to me miraculous.

Overall my first experience with the menstrual cup has been great and seems to be the answer to some of my menstrual woes.  I probably won't be able to use the cup after my fibroid surgery so the next update probably won't be until the spring.  I hope you all gained some insight into menstrual cups and will give them at least a second thought.

Have a great night!

Jen xoxo

That Time My Fibroid Almost Killed Me - Day 7 Part 2

I had big plans tonight to go see the CP Christmas Train in Savona, but I woke up this morning with a little bit of a head cold, and it's -15 outside tonight so I decided to skip the train and watch it from my window when it goes by.  The picture above was last years train, which was amazing!  Since I am sitting in front of the fire keeping warm, I thought I should probably finish Day 7.

A few minutes after they brought me in to the back of the emergency department, past a slew of about 100 other people waiting to get in.  If looks could kill, I would most likely be dead!  They set me up in a semi-private bed (blocked off by a curtain), and a really nice nurse came in asking me to tell her what happened.  I gave her the whole story (for the umpteenth time over the past week).  She was super nice and asked if I needed anything to eat or drink.  By this time it was lunch time and she had a lunch tray come, which was a dry tuna sandwich, a juice box and some stake saltine crackers.  To be honest, those were the best tasting saltine crackers I had ever eaten...even if they needed some water to get them down my throat.  The nice nurse brought me more crackers that she found somewhere in the hospital (I wasn't asking questions).  She told me to hang tight for a few minutes and that the doctor would see me shortly.

A few minutes later, I could see a male in green scrubs walking towards me.  He looked like a doctor from Greys Anatomy (or some other handsome doctor show).  I thought maybe I was getting delusional, but as he walked towards me he introduced himself as "Dr. Brothwich" (or maybe Butterwick, or Brotherwick...I can't remember) and he would be my Doctor for the day.  He may have been one of the most handsome Doctors I ever had the pleasure of meeting.  Fortunately for me, he didn't run screaming after seeing a ghostly white, hair not did, dressed in sweats, zombie that was waiting for him.

The Doctor in the picture below was the closest one I could find online that somewhat did this guy justice.  He had shorter hair and was a bit younger than this doctor.

Doctor explained that I had lost a lot of blood, in fact, my levels were dangerously low, and I needed a blood transfusion, at least 3 bags of blood.  When I talked to my aunt who used to be a nurse later in the day, she figured I lost 1/2 the blood in my system.  Doctor explained how a blood transfusion worked and asked if I was willing to take the tiny risk that a blood transfusion could lead to something bad (minuscule chance).  I jokingly asked him if I had a choice and he told me no, I'd probably take quite a few months to gain the blood back that I had lost.  I oblige.  He put in a requisition for the blood and left.  About 20 minutes later Doctor and nice Nurse came back and hooked me up with all of the medical gadgets needed for a blood transfusion.

Each transfusion takes about 3 hours.  I needed 3 of them, so I was going to be in the ER for 9 hours.  My neighbour who brought me to the hospital went to visit a friend while I was there and told me she would wait for me.  She also went and picked up my prescriptions for me while I was getting the transfusions.

About 10 minutes after starting the transfusion, I was starting to feel it's effects.  It felt like blood was rushing into my system.  It almost felt like tingling, and I could feel my face starting to get flush.  Doctor came back at the 20 minute mark to see how I was doing.  He had come into the room and asked if he could sit on the bed (ummm yes!) and chat about my episode.  He was very concerned that I had to wait until the end of July to see a Gynaecologist.  He also was concerned that the doctor in Emerg had given me Progesterone.  He asked if I knew what happened when I came off that, and of course I had no idea.  He told me that I would most likely have a period which was worse.  He said that he was going to call some of his contacts and see if he could get me in quicker.  He came back a couple of minutes later and let me know that he had got me in to see Dr. Kozic the next week.  He also had told me that she had recommended Fibristal, which is what family Doctor had already prescribed on advise of the Gynaecologist that she had called.  He gave me the contact info for Dr. Kozic and went about his business until it was time for my next transfusion.

Three hours can go by so fast if you are doing something other than laying in a bed hooked up to a bag of blood!  I did have a book and my phone, but I was running out of things to keep my brain occupied.  For some reason, when I am in the emergency department, there always seems to be riff raff come in at some point and this stay did not disappoint.

Two buff police officers hauled a drunk (and I'm assuming high as well) guy in to the ward and placed him into the bed kitty corner (diagonally across for those who don't know what kitty corner stands for).  I knew it was going to be somewhat of a ruckus having this guy around.  The poor nurses had nothing but trouble with this guy, and I had the unfortunate view of his bare behind at one point and time.  The nurses were handling the situation much better than I could have.  I am pretty sure they got urinated and spit on multiple times.

First bag of blood down, the Doc came back and told me it would be about 20 minutes before my next bag came up.  In actuality it took about an hour for the next bag to come up.  One bag down, 4 hours plus hours in the hospital...this was going to be a LONG day.  Lucky for me the Nurses let me walk around the ward to go to the washroom and to get a little mental stimulation.  I am pretty sure every patient in the looked at me with loathe in their eyes as some of them were in the exact same waiting chair since I came in to the ER.

While walking around the ward, I noticed that the Doctor from Sunday's ER visit was working.  Just seeing his face put me into a rage.  I don't know if he recognized me, but all kept thinking was how on earth did he not notice the dramatic loss of blood from the blood work he took.  I had blood work Friday and then again on Sunday, and he did not have the smarts to compare them.  I am sure after loosing about 3L of blood in 3 days that something would be off in my blood work.  I gave him the stink eye every time I saw him, but I am pretty sure he had no idea who I was.  All I wanted to do was yell "Do you remember me...the girl who you thought was having a "heavy period"...It's a good thing I had Handsome Doctor for the transfusions and not Sunday Doctor; I would have been choked.

After the second bag took what seemed like 8 hours, my neighbour had come back to the hospital.  I was just about to get the third bag.  I was clearly exhausted.  The nice new nurse asked me how the other two bags went at the faster pace and she agreed to fast track the blood drip to pretty much as fast as it could go.  That last bag seemed to go by much faster, but it may have been the company.  Time always goes by slower when you are by yourself!

The Doctor let me go after the third bag with no other testing, just the note for the gynaecologist referral.  We got out of the hospital at about 9:30 pm, which essentially was a 13.5 hour day.  I was exhausted.  My neighbour had picked up my prescription from Shoppers so I took my first Fibristal on the way home.

While I was in the hospital, my Sister and Brother in Law decided that they would drive over from Calgary on Friday.  It was July long weekend so they took an extra day to make it an extra long weekend and to come take care of me for a few days until my hubby got home.  

After the 45 minute drive home, I crashed!  I slept so well that night and was feeling much more human than zombie.  I woke in the morning for once with a clearer head, and I was starving.  After I made a quick breakfast I cleaned feverishly.  Even though my sister told me not to touch anything, there was no way I was letting any other human see the state of my bathroom.  It was a disaster.  Thinking back to it now, I wish I had of had my cleaners at that point.

Sis and Bro-in-Law showed up in the afternoon and took care of me for the remainder of the weekend and then Hubby got home on Sunday afternoon.

What I didn't realise until I had the blood transfusion, remember that skin tag that I had mentioned that I thought I had ripped and was dying?  Well that was not the case at all.  The little sucker had barely any blood to survive so it shriveled up and died.

When my Hubby came home, he got the Intel from my neighbour as I didn't remember a lot of what had happened at that time.  He hadn't realized how off I was.  He is convinced I was very close to meeting my maker.  Some of the symptoms like blurred vision were signs I was going into shock.  I had no idea.  I assumed I wasn't in that bad of a state as they kept sending me home from emergency.

The moral of this story is to know your body and fight for what you know is right.  I knew there was something wrong, just not how critical I was.  If I had my time over, I would have asked them to keep me the second time I went to the ER.  If that didn't work, I would have called an ambulance to come and get me.  Ladies, if you have a bleeding episode that is much much heavier than usual, please go get checked.  You never know what your body may be harboring, for me it was a huge fibroid that was trying to kill me.

Next blog posts will tell you about some of the treatments I have been getting, how they worked, and what my next steps are with battling this beast.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Jen

That Time My Fibroid Almost Killed Me - Day 7 Part 1

I like to think that Day 7 is when I got all of the answers.

Thursday morning bright and early I had to go to Ashcroft hospital again for a round of blood work.  My angel of a neighbour offered to take me there for 8:30 am.  I had actually felt better that morning, able to get out of bed easier, and able to keep in a bit of breakfast.  I was starting to feel a bit more normal and not like a zombie or half-blood like I had been feeling all week.

We got to the Ashcroft clinic and waited in a line about 20 people deep.  For such a small town, the hospital in Ashcroft is always packed.  We waited about 30 minutes before my name was called.  I got the blood work done, and then headed over to the doctors office to see if she had faxed the paperwork to the pharmacy so I could send my other neighbour to pick up my prescription.

My neighbour had needed to pick up a couple of things at the grocery store, so we stopped at the one grocery store in the area, Safety Mart.  I needed to pick up some Ginger ale, bread, eggs, milk and pretty much anything I looked at.  I was obviously starting to think about food again.  We were just heading out to the car when the doctors office called.  They asked if I was still in Ashcroft and who was with me.  

The doctors admin told me that I had to immediately go to the Kamloops hospital and that I needed a blood transfusion.  She told me who to ask for when I got there, and asked if someone could take me there.  My neighbour drove me in to Kamloops yet again.  We had stopped at the garage on the way to town because I needed to pick up a cell phone charger as I left mine at home.  We got an ice cream bar at the garage, which I ended up keeping down.

When we got to the hospital, they were waiting for me.  I didn't realize at the time, but they had thought I was coming in by ambulance as they requested a trauma bed for me.  They rushed me in to the back of the hospital, where I got a bed in a curtained off room, but at least I was by myself.

To be continued...

That Time My Fibroid Almost Killed Me - Day 6

Day 6...or as I like to call it...the day from Hell.

By day 6, I was ready for this nightmare to be over.  I had two appointments this day, one 45 minutes in to Kamloops for an Ultrasound at the Royal Inland Hospital and then an hours drive back to my family doctor in Ashcroft.

This was the day when I was really feeling the worst.  I could barely take 5 steps without wanting to pass out.  My neighbour was coming over to get me to take me to my appointments.  I managed to muster up enough strength to get dressed and grab a couple of bottles of water which I needed to drink before my ultrasound.

As I left the house, my eyes could not adjust to the light.  Everything looked really weird.  I hadn't really seen the outside since Sunday, so I figured they would adjust.  I grabbed my sun glasses before I headed into the neighbours truck.

On the way in to the hospital, my stomach started to feel like I was going to get diarrhoea.  Just what I needed, something else going on in my body.  I managed to drink the 1 L of water I needed for the ultrasound on the way to the hospital.  By the time we got to the hospital, I could barely take 10 steps without stopping for a break.  We went in to the waiting room and just sat...for an an extra hour.  So not only did I have to hold the water for one hour, I had to hold it for a second hour because they were running late, and on top of that I was getting sick to my stomach.

After being there for about my neighbour had asked when I was getting in as I was feeling very sick.  They told her I was the next person.  After about 5 more people went in, I was getting super upset and could not hold it anymore.  I had asked one of the ultrasound techs if I could go to the washroom.  She pretty much barked at me that she was my tech and that she was busy and I'd have to either wait, or make the choice to go and then potentially have to get rescheduled.  I couldn't wait anymore so I ended up having to let off what I thought was a tiny amount of pee.

I was shortly thereafter called in to the room by the tech who just reamed me out for asking a question.  I got on the table and she slapped the cold gel on to my stomach and found that my bladder wasn't even half full.  She told me to go empty it and that she would do the ultrasound vaginally.  Had I known that was an option I would have chose that to begin with.  After finishing up with the ultrasound tech that I'd rather never see again, we got to leave the hospital.  On our way out of the hospital, I had to stop about 10 times to catch my breath.  If anyone at the hospital had of paid one bit of attention to me, they should have kept me there.

On the way out of Kamloops, we stopped to pick up something for me to eat.  The only thing I could fathom eating at that point and time was a chicken strip from A&W.  I literally took one bite, which took about 5 minutes to coax down my throat.

We then made our way from Kamloops to Ashcroft, which is an hours drive on a good day.  We landed at the Ashcroft Family Practice (at the hospital) where my family doctor practiced.  I had only saw Dr. Obu two times prior to this visit.  She didn't really know much of my medical history and wasn't aware of this incident yet.

I got into her office pretty much within a few minutes of arriving.  She took one look at me and told me that she thought I needed a blood transfusion because I was as white as the wall (and if you know me, I am normally almost as white as the wall).  She asked me what was  happening, and I explained the whole bleeding situation. She immediately gave me a requisition for blood work for the next morning as the lab was already closed.

She looked in the computer and sure enough the results from my ultrasound this morning were there and indicated that I had a large fibroid again (around 7cm).   She also called the on call gynaecologist while I was in the office.  She booked me an appointment, which was not until the end of July, and asked what type of medication would stop the bleeding.  The gynaecologist had recommended Fibristal, which was a new drug on the market, but should work to shrink the fibroid and stop the bleeding.  She would get her assistant to fax the prescription to my pharmacy in town tomorrow.

On the way home from the Ashcroft hospital, I had called my other neighbour to see if she would pick up a prescription for me in town the next day, which she agreed to do no issues.

That night I was feeling a bit better and was able to keep down a bit of food, get cleaned up and drifted off to sleep.

To be continued...

Home Made Irish Cream Liqueur Recipe

Irish Cream Liqueur Recipe

2 cups light cream (don't use whipping cream like I did...you get butter on the top) 

1 can sweetened condensed milk (like Eaglebrand) 

1 and 2/3cup Irish whiskey (I just used regular Whiskey) 

1 tsp instant coffee (I had none so I used 1/2 cup of dark brewed coffee) 

2 tbsp chocolate syrup 

2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a blender set in high for 30 seconds 

Bottle in a tightly sealed container refrigerate (I used canning jars) 

Keeps for 2 months (if it lasts that long) 

Shake, shake shake it up before serving

My batch made a 1L canning jar full and a pint jar about 3/4 full.


I hope you enjoy!

That Time My Fibroid Almost Killed Me - Day 4 & 5

Today's blog post is brought to you by the home made Irish Cream Liqueur that I made tonight!  I will post the recipe in my next blog post.

Day 4 and 5 of my ordeal are kind of a blur, but I do remember bits and pieces.

Monday (day 4) started out with a call from the hospital saying that they had a spot booked for me on Wednesday to have an ultrasound.  It was early in the morning, which was good because I had a family doctor appointment that afternoon.

The Progesterone prescription that they gave me the previous day was starting to slow down the bleeding to a normal menstruation, but I was still throwing up everything I ate, and was starting to get fairly weak.  It was hard to get from the bedroom to the kitchen without having to stop to catch my breath.  My head was pounding.

One of my neighbours had come over to check on me in the morning and had brought me some scrambled eggs and cinnamon raisin toast.  I was physically starving, but one bite of egg and my stomach instantly turned.  Luckily my neighbour knew where I kept the zip log bags and managed to grab one before I had started projectile puking.  I was so embarrassed.  Besides my husband and my parents, I am not sure if anyone has ever seen me throw up.  It is such a rare occurrence for me that no one is usually around if it does happen.  My neighbour is a very nurturing person and giving person.  She stayed around until I stopped throwing up and then sent me to bed.  She would come back over at lunch to check on me.  She also told me that she would take me to town (45 Min's away) for my ultrasound and then take me to the doctor (an hour drive from town) on Wednesday.

In the afternoon, my other neighbour had also showed up with a home made smoothie with ginger in it, which she thought may help my stomach. I did manage to hold down a couple of mouthfuls of the smoothie which was a feat seeing how nothing else was staying down.

During the days that I was sick, I was checking in on my work laptop a couple of times a day and doing what work I could.  It was one of the busiest times I ever had in the role with my new company, and a major project I was working on was supposed to be ready to roll the next week.  It was the worst time possible for me to take time off.  I stubbornly could not leave it until I got back, even at the request of my boss.  My work was assigned to one of my co-workers to handle while I was away.

The evening and next day were really a blur.  It was a repeat of trying to eat, throwing up, sleeping, checking on work emails, neighbours checking on me, and trying to keep myself at least showered.  My bathroom looked like a bomb had went off in it.  There was packages of feminine products everywhere, bottles of half finished sports drinks, buckets I was using to throw up in (cleaned out of course), about 12 glasses of water.  It was a mess and so was I.

Tuesday night as I was getting ready to go to bed, I noticed that one of my skin tags had turned black.  I thought that I must have hooked it on something and it was dying.  I got ready for bed and got out my clothing for the next day so I could just get up a few minutes before my Neighbour was picking me up, and just throw my clothes on and go.

To be honest, I was getting a little bit nervous that something serious was happening to my body.  I just felt so off.  I had never felt like that before, and I sure as heck never want to again.

To be continued...

That Time My Fibroid Almost Killed Me - Day 3

That my friends ↑ is about the 1/2 of the amount of Pads and Tampons I had been through in the first two days of this insane bleeding episode.  It is a good thing I am a hoarder and couponer and had dozens of packs of "supplies" in the house.

We woke up on day 3 and had to make our way in to Kamloops to drop hubby off at the airport.  The bleeding had subsided a bit and wasn't as intense, which made me think I was on the back end of the bleeding.  I was still nauseous His flight was around 2pm, so we decided to stop into the Cascades Casino in Kamloops and grab something to eat at their Brunch Buffet because we had nothing to eat for breakfast at home.  On the way into town, hubby had asked if he should stay and not fly back to work.  I foolishly told him no because I was scared he would get in trouble at work, I thought that it was getting close to being over and the doctors at emerg didn't seem concerned.

The Brunch at Cascades looked amazing, but I wouldn't know how it tasted because I couldn't even take a bite.  It was a quick 30 minute stay before we were finished.  Thank goodness for the beautiful washrooms at the casino because I had to make a couple of runs for it when the bleeding started to get heavy...yet again.  We left the casino and went straight to the airport.  I kissed my hubby goodbye, stopped for an iced coffee, water and bathroom break at Starbucks along the way, and then headed to the Kamloops hospital.

If you have ever been to the Kamloops hospital, you would know that parking is a nightmare.  I drove around the parkade for about 15 minutes until I found a spot.  Then made the 10 minute walking trek with my hospital bag in tow, down to the emergency department.  By this time I was woozy, sweating from the 30 degree heat, carrying a duffel bag filled to the brim, juggling two Venti sized Starbucks cups, and very very hangry.  Even though I hadn't been able to eat at brunch, I was starving.

When I got to emerg, the first thing the nurse said to me after she took my info was that I was going to have to dump the coffee and water as I couldn't have anything.  That was the first time during this whole episode that I started to get emotional...over an iced coffee.  If you know me well, you know that I am a super emotional person, but I can handle quite a bit of stress before I crack.  It's usually an inanimate object that makes me break.  This time it was having to dump out a perfectly good iced coffee that I I wanted to drink so bad.  I dumped the coffee but kept the water.  I also stopped at the cafe on the walk to emerg and bought a granola bar thinking I would eat it on the way home.

After a small wait, I was brought into the emerg area and put in an area with about 6 other people.  There was a guy who was clearly passing kidney stones (I felt his pain), and a girl who was trying to hide a pregnancy from her mother, a couple of other people, and me with my giant duffel bag full of pads and tampons (and my secret ice water).

Luckily, the bleeding had subsided  to a couple of massive clots by the time I got to hospital, but did require a couple of emergency runs to the washroom.  At one point the only washroom in the area was being occupied by a little old lady.  She scooted in there in front of me.  I knew it was going to be a long wait.  I begged the nurses to take me to another washroom.  One male nurse took pity on me and showed me another washroom that the public normally doesn't use.  I am pretty sure I scared him when I told him he'd have to clean a pool of blood off the floor if he didn't take me to another one.

About an hour into the emerg visit, they take me into a room.  Male Doctor comes in again, asks what the issue is, and I explain the whole issue, telling him I was there two days prior, how much blood I had lost, now I'm throwing up, and feeling pretty crappy.  He called for a panel of blood, asked if I was pregnant.

Side Note: Oh my goodness, I forgot a hilarious part of the first emerg visit, now that I am recollecting on the second visit.  After the Doctor told me that he was going to refer me for an ultrasound to figure out what was causing the bleeding, he asked if we were planning on having kids.  After telling him yes, he proceeded to give me an education on the male reproductive system and how ejaculation and sperm work.  I was pretty much bleeding out and his biggest concern was telling me about the male anatomy.  At that point and time I was pretty sure I had scared my husband so bad with all of the blood that he wasn't coming near me again for months.

After I had a round of blood drawn in the hallway of the hospital, it was back to the crowded waiting room.  The guy beside me was clearly in excruciating pain from his kidney stones.  I actually had to summon a nurse at one point because he was in so much pain he could not move.  I completely understood as I suffered from stones for quite some time.  By this time I was seriously unimpressed by the health care at this hospital.  I am pretty sure it was written all over my face.

The doctor called me back out to tell me he was going to prescribe me some Progesterone, which should stop the bleeding and that I needed to book an appointment with the ultrasound clinic asap.  I had asked him if my blood levels were off and he told me not to worry,  just take some iron supplements (with Vitamin C...which no one had ever told me before) and the prescribed progesterone.  He then sent me on my merry way.  You would think that levels would have snowed being off if I had bloodwork done on Friday and on Sunday and lost 3 liters of blood in total.

What pisses me off is that the two times I was at emerg, not once did they anybody ask me if I had a way home or if I felt ok to drive.  In hindsight, I should never have been driving in the shape I was in that Sunday after leaving emerg, but I had to get home (45 minutes away).

I headed over to Shoppers Drug Mart and filled my prescription, which I took as soon as they handed me the bag.  I also took some iron supplements and vitamin c as recommended by the doc.  I grabbed something cold to drink and head home.

While I was at the hospital I had called my neighbour to check on my dog if I was going to be super long at the hospital.  I had also called my other neighbour who I see almost every day to tell her what was going on.  Both of these neighbours sprung into action and started checking in on me every couple of hours when I got home.

I made it home that day and basically just crashed.  My one neighbour had brought me over some soup, and the others came over to take my dog on their evening walk with them.  The bleeding was subsided it seemed, but I was still throwing up anything I put in my body.

That is the end of day 3!  Hope you come back to hear all about the next bunch of days!