A lot of my life revolves around blood lately.  I’m constantly seeing it, smelling it, tasting it, accidentally leaving it on stuff, monitoring it’s contents and pressure, etc.  I’m essentially an auto-vampire now.

Two nights ago I was laying on the couch pretending to watch a movie and started tasting some coppery goodness.  I wasn’t eating anything, hadn’t bitten my lip or anything like that.  Very bizarre.  So I went to the bathroom, spat out some blood and took a look.  The gum behind my left canine was seeping blood.  There was no apparent wound or trauma and, as I held my lip up and exposed to air it started to clot (thank god).  I sat down and looked up the literature on my blood thinner.  Sure enough, gums bleeding can be a very bad sign.  Since it’d stopped relatively quickly I decided to wait on a dr call/visit to see if it happens again.  I did set an alarm for the middle of the night to wake me up so I could do a quick blot check.  The singer for one of my favorite oldschool bands died when he left an abscessed tooth bleed for too long and it shut down his system, so I wanted to be a bit cautious without going full-blown freak out mode.

The alarm woke me and I checked and there was no more blood.  I’m still here a few days later so I guess maybe, hopefully it was just a fluke.

I also bruise like an old lady now.  Seriously, it’s ridiculous.  If I lightly bump something hard I can expect a black mess the next day.  So maybe not going to be joining that boxing gym anytime soon.

The last fun thing I found out about my particular blood thinner is that there are some studies that don’t necessarily prove, but show a strong link between usage and major increase in instances or worsening of cancer.

So that’s cool.  Not only is it absurdly expensive (I’m currently taking them at the generosity of my cardiologist’s sample stash), but now, while keeping me alive from the stent and hopefully not causing me to completely bleed out at random times, it might give me cancer.  Or make it worse, if I already have it.  Who knows.  The way this year’s going that wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.

I know nobody actually reads this blog but I’m throwing this out there anyway:  I’ve always been able to smell my blood, even on tiny wounds.  Now that I’m stabbing my fingers 4-7 times a day I’m smelling it constantly.  It’s very metallic, almost pungent but not in a bad way.  I’ve always liked the smell (and taste..yeah, maybe I’m weird) but I’ve heard claim blood is ‘scentless’, at least when it’s fresh.  Is this a thing other people experience?