Blood Clots Look Like Grape Jelly

My six-year-old stepdaughter had her tonsils taken out the Tuesday after Labor Day. That Thursday, she was taken to the E.R., because she was dehydrated. I guess it hurt to drink or eat anything, so she wasn't. My husband met his ex-wife at the hospital, but I stayed home with the baby. Yesterday was the first time I've seen Sarah since her operation.

Everything was good. Sarah seemed fine. Showed us the boo-boo she got from riding her scooter at her mom's. Ate some dinner of spaghetti. Had a little ice cream later. Part of a cookie her mom had sent over. No big deal. Off to bed.

This morning, my husband went up to wake the 10-year-old, Taylor. I could hear them chatting on the baby monitor, so I went upstairs to ask them to keep it down, so they didn't wake the baby. Then, we hear this loud cough, and I asked, "Was that Sarah....?"

Now, Sarah seems to have a cough all of the time. So, hearing her cough wouldn't be something new. My husband went in to check on her nonetheless. I stayed in Taylor's room with her as we discussed me dropping her off at school.

Andy and Sarah walk by, and I hear him asking her if she can take a bath. I said, "Oh, I thought maybe she threw up, but she's fine?" He scrunched up his nose and shook his head. I took that to mean she HAD thrown up or was NOT fine, so I went into her room to check it out.....

BAD IDEA.

OMG.....she had thrown up big blood clots all over her bed. It was on the sheets, comforter, pillows. There were little drops of blood on the carpet, too. In a word......GROSS. I just don't do so well with the ooey, icky stuff.

Poor Sarah was now in the bathroom hanging over the tub, still sick. My husband was yelling at us that we would need to go to the hospital. Sure, sure, good idea, I agree.....but I reminded him of the two other kids.....what about them? Seemed like everybody was yelling about what to do!

Well, once we all calmed down a little, we quickly formed a plan. Hubby called 9-1-1, the 10-year-old got the baby changed and dressed, and I ran downstairs to get dressed [since I had just gotten out of the shower and was in a t-shirt with wet hair].

Hubby took care of Sarah [who had thankfully stopped throwing up], and I ran around getting his wallet, phone, shoes, etc. I also got Sarah a stuffed animal to take with her and then checked on the other two kids. Taylor and the baby were in the baby's room playing with the door closed, because Taylor didn't want to see the blood and was afraid of the baby going into Sarah's room and getting into anything.

Then, I ran outside and waved down the ambulance. I showed one of them the blood clots in her room and bathroom while the other two stayed with Sarah.

It was decided that I would stay home and get the other two kids off to school and day care. Sarah went in the ambulance, and Andy followed.

Phew! What a morning. Talked to hubby several times, and Sarah sounds really good - so much better. Last I heard, the doctor was coming to see her, so I don't know what's up.

After they left, I attempted to clean up. I didn't want the blood to "set" and ruin the carpet, mattress, comforter, etc. More importantly, I didn't want Sarah to come home to this mess in her room or bathroom.

I could have NEVER been a doctor. I kept gagging and nearly screamed when a blood clot flew out of the comforter and landed on my hand. The worst was trying to get the biggest clots off the sheets before putting them into the washer. It seriously looked like grape jelly......I had to keep telling myself that, so I could clean it all up. I'm okay with just blood -- it was the CLOTS that were killing me.

Well, I got through the worst of it. I cleaned out the tub and used our mini steam cleaner to do the carpet and mattress. I actually got almost all of it out of the mattress. We'll see how much comes out of the comforter, sheets and pillows.....no biggie. It was Hello, Kitty!, and I'm sure Sarah will be wanting something more "mature" soon enough.