In A Pool Of Blood

By Meera Thirtha

2 min read

In case you missed it, check out Part 1 of this series, Complexities of Disease Management and Single Parenting.

At first, I couldn’t really comprehend what was going on but thankfully I didn’t lose my composure. A day after the surgery, we had been to the doctor’s clinic for a bandage dressing; a routine checkup that is scheduled after every incision. As usual, I was made to sit in the waiting room until it was all done.

The damage had already been done

I recall Tina narrating the entire episode to me with much pain and grief in her eyes. On that forlorn day, the surgeon had peeled the Micropore surgical tape off her skin only to be thunderstruck by what he had witnessed. Suddenly, a gush of blood had begun oozing out of her underarm. The doctor’s face had turned pale with fear as he knew that the next few minutes would be a catastrophic disaster.

He realized that he had gone too deep while performing the surgery. The clinic neither had a blood bank nor a hemostatic clamp that could prevent further bleeding. He immediately called for an ambulance, but the main hospital was 3 miles away. The receptionist by then had informed me about the incident. In a matter of seconds Tina was covered in blood. Despite several gauze pads that had been overlapped and taped onto her underarm to pause the outbreak, the bleeding hadn’t stopped.

Another senior surgeon who was present in the room, had intervened. He applied firm pressure to the bleeding sight by pushing the artery against the bone ignoring my daughter’s panic-stricken scream. Luckily, he managed to get the situation under control, but the damage had already been done. Puddles of blood stained the floor. The white bedsheet turned crimson red. Her hemoglobin levels had dropped to 5. I had just borne witness to a ghastly calamity that I had never seen or heard of before.

At the hospital

Maneuvering his way through the evening traffic, the ambulance driver somehow managed to reach the clinic in about 7 minutes. While Tina was being carried into the ambulance on the stretcher, the doctor continued to keep a firm grip over the arteries. I prayed incessantly for a saving grace to protect my child.

At the hospital, she was immediately surrounded by a whole bunch of doctors, nurses, therapists, and technicians. Thankfully, she didn’t belong to a rare blood type. They quickly arranged for one unit of blood for the transfusion. Unfortunately, she had eaten a substantial meal before leaving home which only added to the complexity of the situation. Administering general anesthesia on a full stomach meant that she was at a greater risk of the food getting caught in the lungs. A long tube was inserted into her throat all the way down to the stomach to empty the contents of it.

In the meantime, I was fortunate to have a family member step in to help with billing and other formalities. She was a blessing in disguise and a huge source of strength and support for me. After about 45 minutes, the nurse informed us that Tina was out of danger. With momentary mayhem retreating into memory, I heaved a sigh of relief.

This article represents the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of the author; none of this content has been paid for by any advertiser. The HSDisease.com team does not recommend or endorse any products or treatments discussed herein. Learn more about how we maintain editorial integrity here.

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Jasmine IVANNA Espy Member
<inline-mention username="Meera Thirtha" user-id="4253677"/> My heart hurts for you as a mother. What a terrifying experience to be in for you and your child. My heart was racing and praying for a good ending. I am so glad they are around to fight another day.
Williamk47 Member
Thank you for your advice I have an appointment on May 3rd to see a female dermatologist I had a man before but I think women dermatologist deal with skin more then men I will discuss the laser treatment and see what she suggest. I have to stop the bleeding some how. And being a diabetic as well it's got my sugar going crazy. Thank you for your help on this I will see into it. But it's very embarrassing when I go out and I start bleeding or draining or both.. 
1. Williamk47 Member
 <inline-mention username="Chelsea Freund" user-id="2400429"/> I went yesterday on the 3rd and she done everything look over she said I can't grasp on you are in so much pain she had me in a gown I waited I freaked out cause it was everywhere and on the floor and where I was sitting so I had to call the nurse about 5 mins she came in I was sitting on a chair and we talk and I was telling her I was reaching out to other people that has HS just sitting in the chair I had a puddle of blood and pus on the floor at my feet she clean it up and had me check she said boils are all over all the way to the tail bone and when she touch one in the private area and was swollen I scream it hurt so bad so it she told me that the clear isn't what she needs or the blood it's the white substance coming out so she swab it send it to the lab. And she doing 3 stages HUMIRA with antibiotics and that's tropical as well order the right antibacterial soap and got me a nurse from the hospital to clean and bandage the wound she Said that the white substance is not letting it heal. She did a local surgery under my arm 2 years ago and it never closed so she said we have to get the inflammation down to go into another stage. She told me the reason my last doctor could help as much as he can is men really don't take care of skin they are more into dealing with skin cancer. But stuff like these and boils usually it's women handles and pours and what make up to use I think she was trying to make me feel better cause I was embarrassed cause of messing up the exam room but she going to work with it she she may not have a cure but she do everything to help me live with. She said HUMIRA is a good drug if you do it with other stuff all at the same time not do this drug and later do another it need to be done at the same time to get a better fighting chance. So I go back in 3 months and have the team of doctors do their part 
2. Chelsea Freund Member
 <inline-mention username="Williamk47" user-id="4658623"/> I'm so sorry it was such a tough visit. HS always makes us very vulnerable. So first, if you are being treated by it and you feel like Humira isn't doing the job, there are others you can try. It's not the only one. So just keep that in mind - because YOU are in charge. And she is not the only doctor to talk to (unless for some reason you have limited doctors in your area, or your insurance is limited). Like I said, it took me five different medications to figure out that Xeljanz is the magic bullet for me. You might go through a few trials yourself. Think about what a realistic timeline is for whether something is going to work or not. And what is your tolerance level? Can you go three months before waiving your and and saying I give up, or can you go six months and saying hey, we gotta try something else? There are other supportive medications too, like sprionolactone, which changes the mix of your hormones somewhat. HS seems to be affected by hormones, so it may be something that also helps you; you have to try the different doses in steps. If you go to our menu or search option, we have a bunch of articles, but I'm going to put some here if you'd like to read them. I have written about how to look for doctors and how to be your own advocate. There is also a general list of different treatments. You DO have options. I really feel like you've been stuck and it's been a bit unfair, but sometimes that happens if we keep going to the same doctor. Treatment options: https://hsdisease.com/treatment/goals How to be your own advocate (This is a 3 part series, make sure you read all parts): https://hsdisease.com/living/best-advocate Finding a doctor: https://hsdisease.com/living/finding-match Your diabetes has to be watched too, so whomever you choose is going to try to keep you as safe as possible. Sending you lots of hugs! ~Chelsea (Team Member)
Williamk47 Member
Everyone say it's a person weight but I know there are little kids and young adults that get HS and they are fit and or skinny. Even young adults how many showers they take a day but still gets HS or living with them. I have live with mine since 2007 was when I first got one. And I was showering 3 times a day I was back then 192 lbs so I know it's not the weight. But I do know it's must be in the person medications. Or it's in humans sweat. Cause I notice in certain areas the sweat has a slim feel film to it. Like almost gel to it. I had been around body sweat it's nothing like this so I took a white handkerchief and used it but it turn a dark yellowish tent. I had doctors tell me to shave these infection areas and I have other doctors say don't. All I'm saying there is got to be a doctor out there that just study HS. Cause I'm sick of being a lab rat for these doctors to practice on and can't find a simple cure we got cures of alot of skin diseases when Hs been out for a long time if not why is everyone tells me to use apple cider vinegar? 15 mins on 15 mins off through out the day. Why can't there be just a doctor that knows about these and not get rid of them ? Why is it hard to find a cure to these things. I'm not a religious person but even the church say red what the Bible said about job he had the same thing but the didn't know about the disease so they had to put vinegar on them. Again they never got healed. But we came along way from that time and still we don't know to much about HS. My arm pits have so much scars and I have one scar that's not closing its stays open to drained I can't stop it. And the coloration of my armpits are so much darker then my own skin. It's so embarrassing if someone looks at them. 
1. Chelsea Freund Member
 Hi William. HS is so challenging in so many ways. For hundreds of years, doctors only knew to take care of it by poking open the lesions and draining them. Now we know that doing that means almost 100% of the time, the lesions will come back again or fill up again. For many centuries too, doctors were telling patients that it was a matter of cleanliness. We were compared to patients who developed boils - and it's not even close to being the same situation. HS has just really picked up in the medical community because biologics like Humira have been developed. Those of us who have HS often have other diseases as well like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and ankylosing spondylitis, and while testing these medications, it was discovered that HS was affected as well. So while we don't have a cure, we have better options than we have had in the past. As far as where HS comes from goes, as you said, children develop HS. Adults develop HS as well. There is nothing that indicates any specific medication causes HS. I will point out that HS often travels with other autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, ankylosing spondylitis, etc. There are also hormonal changes to consider. So many people are affected by hormones. And you said that you noticed a certain film or slime in sweat; HS is now understood to be a biofilm disease, meaning that the bacteria located in the lesions form a slimy biofilm so that antibiotics and steroids don't kill them, which makes the lesions live forever. Lasers and surgery will remove the bacteria. I'm not sure if you have heard of laser treatments for HS, but they are appropriate all the way up through stage III. They might also help to soften your scar tissue and stop that one stubborn lesion from constantly leaking. If you talked to your dermatologist (or called around to other offices), you would want to find out if anyone would be able to use both a YAG laser and a carbon dioxide laser. It's covered by insurance if they use billing codes for lesion destruction. I have had 3 treatments myself, and they have made a world of difference. It isn't a cure, but you might be more comfortable. It's another option if you can find someone with the equipment. And boy, do we all want a cure! I don't know what we have in store, but I can't help but hope that it will happen in the next few decades. We really have jumped forward in our treatments. You may want to see if there is a different doctor out there with a fresh set of eyes for ideas for you. ~Chelsea (Team Member)

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