Life can be going along just fine and then something happens to stop you in your tracks. For me it was my health (yes, again), and it was the stuff of nightmares. There I was going about my day when I had a violent fit of coughing. The next thing I know, I’m throwing up bright red blood!
Okay, let’s backtrack a little. It was the 29th August, 2023, a Tuesday. I had stepped out in the evening to buy ingredients for dinner and was feeling absolutely fine. My bestie called while I was walking back home and we were talking about this and that when the cough started. I got home and my daughter’s Hindi tutor had arrived so I told bestie I’d call her back and tried to talk to the tutor, but that cough just wouldn’t let up. I excused myself, went to the bathroom and bam! Blood all over the wash basin.
Did I freak out? Hell yeah! But you know what? I brushed it off. Told myself that I probably just tore something while coughing and I’ll be okay. The truth was, that more than the blood, I was terrified about what could actually be causing it. The human mind has an amazing capacity to go to dark places and think the worst. Yes, I thought my time was up. But, I was feeling better so took a deep breath and tried to calm down a bit. And then I threw up again and there was more blood than before. Right. I called my dad and told him that I was throwing up blood and needed to go to the emergency room.
At the ER they first did what they needed to do to stop the bleeding and then asked me to get admitted in the ICU. Yeah, no. The kids were home alone and I really didn’t want the hassle. Anyway, I had to sign a waiver saying that I was discharging myself against medical advice and I came home. I did have every intention of going back if anything happened.
I got through the night without incident and woke up feeling great the next day. Phew! Got busy with a bunch of stuff and all was well. But then I went to the toilet and excuse the excess information but there was blood where there shouldn’t have been. It was Wednesday evening and I knew that I had to face the reality that something was seriously wrong and I needed to get it checked. The next morning I got myself an appointment with a gastroenterologist and told him everything that happened including that I have a history of portal vein thrombosis (PVT).
8:00AM the next morning I was getting an endoscopy of my upper GI tract and later that day I did get admitted into hospital. My haemoglobin had dropped to 7 which warranted two blood transfusions to, you know, keep me alive. On the morning of the 2nd September I got a second endoscopy along with a procedure called banding. Turns out I had varices which had ruptured and caused the bleeding. They needed to be banded so that they get closer to normal size and not continue to be a bleeding risk.
Three more days in hospital on a liquid diet and I was finally discharged. My arms were black and blue from all the IVs and my insides felt horrible, but I was back home. I was still anaemic and had to be on a soft semi-solid diet for a few more days but there was no more internal bleeding. As it turns out, the PVT was most likely putting pressure on my other veins and causing the varices. I have to have another banding procedure in about 10 days and I can’t say I’m excited about it or the liquid diet. I am however relieved that we caught the problem and it’s getting the required treatment. I am also so very grateful to still be alive!
Jacqueline Tellis 
God bless
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