If it’s not one thing, it’s…………

 General Health, Vacations  No Responses »
Oct 042010
 

3 days into our trip back to Ohio for Edie’s 40th high school reunion, everything seemed to be going fine.

All the reunion events were behind us, and the only thing left was the open house at Edie’s sister’s house Sunday to get through. I was even sort of enjoying myself. The weather wasn’t great, but we weren’t spending a lot of time outside either.

But then as I was just standing around talking with family, without warning, and for no apparent reason, my nose starts to bleed. Fortunately I realized what was happening (after Edie gasped), and I was able to get to the bathroom without making a mess, and stop it in a very short time.

Unbelievable! This is way too reminiscent of what happened just over a year ago, when I eventually had to have my nose cauterized because of spontaneous nose bleeds. The only difference this time is it’s my right nostril instead of my left.

Why does this keep happening? Nose bleeds aren’t listed as a symptom or manifestation of MCL.

Worst of all, it couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time, on vacation, 3,000 miles away from home. [Political rant deleted.]

And even if it doesn’t happen again the rest of the trip, what about the airplane ride home? Could that be problematic?

Fortunately there is a VA clinic in Warren, OH, and a medical center in Pittsburgh, where we’ll be on Wednesday and Thursday, but that won’t make this time any less stressful. I just know for the rest of the vacation, I’ll be dwelling on every feeling in my nose (real or imagined), and wondering if this is this going to be a repeat of last year.

[BIG SIGH]

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 Posted by Marc at 4:24 am  Tagged with:

All fixed [I hope!]

 General Health  2 Responses »
Aug 032009
 

Well I didn’t make it to Thursday.

Right in the middle of preparing for our AS9100 annual surveillance audit at work this morning, my nose started to bleed. Blood was everywhere. It was really embarrassing, and depressing.

Fortunately we have a very understanding auditor, and a lot of good coworkers to pick up the slack for me, as I tried to get the bleeding to stop, and then call the doctors office. I wasn’t about to wait till Thursday to get this problem taken care of. I was prepared to beg if need be.

Happily I didn’t have to beg. I simply explained my situation to the nurse, and she asked how quickly I could get there. I left work almost immediately, and headed to the doctors office.

So to make a long story short, after an attempt at chemical cauterization didn’t work out too well, plus some whining on my part, the doctor ended up performing an electrocauterization. [I don't know why he didn't do that in the first place, it seems the most effective, but......]

So here I am back home, hoping this did the trick, and faced with the challenge of not blowing my nose [hard] for two weeks, nor ride my bike until at least Friday.

I’m just not sure which one of those two things is going to be more painful.

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 Posted by Marc at 4:23 pm  Tagged with:

Nothing like some good food and wine

 Food & Wine  No Responses »
Aug 022009
 

to relax anyone.

Just got back from the Central Coast Wine and Food Festival at Wally’s in West LA, and despite the fear of blood gushing out my nose at some unexpected moment, I was spared that embarrassment.

Instead, I managed to enjoy some great food from the such famed names as Wolfgang Puck and Mark Peel, and some unexpectedly good wines from wineries I had never heard of before from the central coast region of California.

All in all it was a good day!

Now if I can just make it through till my appointment with the ENT doc on Thursday, I’ll be a happy man.

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 Posted by Marc at 4:49 pm  Tagged with:

Stress! What is it good for?

 Cycling, General Health  3 Responses »
Aug 012009
 

Nothing!

I’m now convince the nose bleeds I’ve been getting are related to stress. Particularly stress at work (although there are few other things). At least that’s what I’m hoping.

This morning I went out for my usual Saturday bike ride, when I sensed another nose bleed coming on. It was at that point I realized I was thinking about work. I don’t usually think about work on the weekends, heck, I don’t even think about work much at work, but we are having a problem with a very uncooperative supplier, that is just driving me absolutely crazy. Plus we are having our annual AS9100 surveillance audit on Monday and Tuesday, which is always a stressful time for me.

The nose hadn’t started bleeding yet, so I tried thinking about something else. [Much easier said then done.] I managed to get another 2 miles down the road, when my nose started to bleed. (That’s my 3rd nose bleed in 25 hours.) As usual, I got it stopped in a minute or two, and like yesterday, decided it would be best to head back home. I wasn’t about to risk another nose bleed, surrounded by about 50 other riders, and unable to easily pull off to the side.

So for now I’ve decided it best to take a few days off the bike, and try to unwind. The Buick Open [golf tournament] is on today, so I can watch that, and I’ll even do some reading. I bought two books for my Kindle, so I need to get my monies worth.

Plus I decided to redesigned my blog. I was tired of the old one. It was way too busy. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s mostly what I want, and I managed to get rid of all the extraneous stuff which was of little value.

It’s not too blue, is it?

Anywaze, it would probably do everyone a bit a good to get rid of some of that excess stress you might be experiencing as well.

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 Posted by Marc at 10:21 am  Tagged with:

The worst feeling in the world

 Cycling, General Health  No Responses »
Jul 312009
 

Here it was, almost 72 hours since my last nose bleed. That’s the longest I’ve gone without one since they started almost two weeks ago.

I was really feeling great, and since I hadn’t experienced a nose bleed when I was outside before, I decided to go for a bike ride this morning.

I don’t normally ride on Friday’s, but I wanted to see if I had gotten rid of the terrible clicking I’ve been experiencing on my Specialized bike. Plus I had just received my Garmin 305 warranty replacement, so I wanted to make sure I had set it up properly.

But the gods were not with me this morning. About a mile and half down the road, I could feel the blood start to run from my nose. Fortunately I’ve been carrying kleenex with me [just in case], so I pulled over, sat down on the curb, and applied pressure until the bleeding stopped.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt so disappointed in my entire life, as I turned around and headed back home.

BTW, thanks to my oncologist, I do have an appointment with the ENT doc on August 6th at 1:30 PM.

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 Posted by Marc at 7:48 am  Tagged with:

There’s nothing like a good friend

 Diagnosis  1 Response »
Jul 212009
 

When I got up this morning, I felt like sh@#&! I was just plain tired, made even more so, knowing my latest blood work had me with a hemoglobin of 11.5 g/dl. I was also concerned about the two nose bleeds I had on Sunday and Monday, and wondering if I was going to be able to ride my bike at all this morning.

I couldn’t even back out of riding [which at the time I wanted to], as I committed to do Turnbull Canyon, with a friend. So I made the best of it, put on a happy face, and headed out at 7 AM to meet Ed.

From the very moment, I left the house, I felt I was going to have problems. My speedometer was only registering about 16 mph, which was really discouraging as I felt like I was doing 18 or 19 mph, but I persevered anyways. There’s no way I was going to ever admit anything was wrong.

So we meet up, and headed for the Whittier foothills. I did my best to keep up with Ed, hoping only that I wouldn’t get another nose bleed, and would not fall too far behind on the hills.

As we reached the base of the first hill, Colima and Lambert Roads, Ed was kind enough to ride with me for a little while, but then soon took off on his own. I couldn’t keep up. I did manage to catch him at one of the fortuitous traffic lights, and briefly passed him, but he soon went by again.

But then, he slowed down, and I was able to catch and pass him shortly before the top. He did stay with me as we crested the summit, and continued down the other side, so I figured he was just being a nice guy, so I wouldn’t feel too bad.

We then continued on our way to the second [and last] hill, the backside of Turnbull Canyon. For the first little bit, Ed road with me, but I was starting to really tire, and told him it was ok to leave me. [I did know the way.] But soon after that Ed started slowing down again, and I was able to catch him, and even pass him.

But this time [I must have gotten a second wind] I kicked it in just a little, as I was passing him, to see if I could drop him, and much to my surprise Ed did not respond. I ended up beating him up the hill by about 30 seconds.

Now I’m not sure if Ed was just being a nice guy, but I didn’t really care. It sure made my day, and made the ride back home a lot easier, even with the slight head wind.

Thanks Ed!

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 Posted by Marc at 1:32 pm  Tagged with:
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