Thursday, Dec. 15, 10:30 am
Getting ready to go to the doctor. This time for me. Crazy skin rash that could possibly be caused by stress, or an allergic reaction to preachers! Will find out at the skin doctor’s office this afternoon. Just about to step into the shower when I hear, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” from outside the bathroom door. As you may remember from past blogs, that is not a comforting phrase. I opened the door to find Betty, covered in blood on her left side. It was just running like water. The tube that had been removed the day before left a small incision that was pumping red. Betty does not do well with blood. She’s a fainter. She quickly headed for the floor. I helped her down and we applied pressure to the wound with a wash cloth. Blood was just everywhere! We called the doctor immediately. I put about three heavy bandages with gauze and wide tape to try and stop the flow. It slowed down, but continued to spill freely. I put more bandages and gauze on a second time after the first round bled through.
The urgency of the situation sometimes is dependent on your proximity to the situation. The doctors in Tyler, 45 miles away, didn’t seem to be overly concerned. I could tell that by the fact that they didn’t call back for an hour. I got Betty cleaned up and we waited to hear what we should do. “Don’t come in. Just keep pressure on it and it will be fine.” The word “fine” lends me to believe that all was well. It was not. Her arm became sore right away and she was experiencing a good amount of pain on her left side. We called later in the day to get the same advice from a different doctor, and then again on Friday. This has been a hard week-end. Knowing that something is not quite right but not having anything confirmed as to what to do about it. We go back to the surgeon’s office on Monday to try and find some answers. The area under her arm is still bleeding and can’t be stopped by anything I can do. Pray for direction. This might just be a trivial matter, but our bathroom looks like a crime scene from CSI, and Betty is still in a lot of pain. This is Sunday night and we still have bleeding. Trying to stop it again. Remember Betty to the Father. Thank you for checking on and praying for us.