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It's always something!

Last night I got a nose bleed. It wasn't very serious, nor did it last very long, but in 2001, I ended up in the emergency room, because I couldn't stop a nose bleed, which resulted after a sneeze. So the fear of that happening again is always in the back of my mind.

The doctors attributed it to the low humidity, and the fact I took three aspirin (that was before my diagnosis) the night before, because of a bad headache.

But while the nose bleed in 2001 occurred after an episode of sneezing, last nights nose bleed was not the result of any trauma. I was just sitting down to dinner, when suddenly, my nose started bleeding.

Still, I wasn't overly concerned because of the brevity of the occurrance, but when I got another nose bleed this morning, again without any trauma, I became a little alarmed.

So I immediately emailed my oncologist to ask if she would add some coagulation tests to my monthly blood work, which coincidentally was due today. (Platelet count alone is not an indication of the quality of the platelets.)

She obliged, and I immediately headed to the hospital to get the blood work.

Well, I just received all the test results, and there doesn't appear to be anything in my blood work to indicate a cause for the two bloody noses. My CBC, hemoglobin, platelets, are not significantly different than what has been reported over the past 2 years (lymphocytes were even down 10% from last month), and the coagulation factors were all within the normal/average range.

So I am feeling a little better now, knowing there doesn't seem to be anything too sinister going on, and hoping the recent nose bleeds are also a result of the low humidity (at 62% today).

I am, however, a little concerned green tea may be a contributor to the nose bleeds. Green tea does act as a blood thinner, and my recent switch to loose leaf green tea (from the cheapest green tea in bags), has no doubt resulted in an increase in the active ingredients in green tea that I am consuming.

I'd sure hate to think I may have to go back to drinking green tea from bags. Besides the fact, I'm anticipating improved results from the loose leaf green tea, it tastes much better.

Oh well, tomorrow should be an exciting day. I'm not going to work, and instead going for a bike ride in the morning. That should be a real test.
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