October 24 – “Cauter-bury Tales”

We had to make a trip into Texas yesterday, Houston, to be exact.  So no baby yet on the Waco front.  Well, at least no baby with the Vaughan last name.  Well, at least no baby with the Vaughan last name and direct blood ties to me.  Well, Christi is still great with child as far as we know.  And if she is not and Josh hasn’t called us, then he’ll have to deal with his mother.  So … we went to Houston.

The reason for our foray into the far reaches was a doctor’s appointment for Mom.  We took her to see her Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist so he could check out all the nosebleeds she has been having.  Fortunately the appointment wasn’t until three in the afternoon, so she was beginning to wake up and be fairly alert.  We loaded up the wheelchair and walker and made the trek without too much trouble. 

The doctor did his check with almost no difficulty from Mom.  Quite a change from the regular doctor visit.  She balked big time when they approached her nose then.  This time she was obviously uncomfortable, but seemed to be all right with the process.  He asked us if she had been showing any signs or symptoms of allergies, but she really hasn’t at all.  He said the nose looked like she had been having lots of allergy-type trouble.  Then he asked if the bleeding had been from the front or back of the nose.  How would we know?  I figured if it was in back maybe she would have been spitting it out, so I finally decided that since it was coming out in geysers from her nostril that it must be from the front.  He seemed to agree. 

His inspection revealed no tumors, but he did find two places that were obviously irritated.  Apparently that was what he had expected, because he pulled out a little vial of silver nitrate.  That’s the stuff they use to cauterize wounds.  He dipped a long Q-tip into the solution and began to touch it to the irritated places.  And got an immediate reaction from Mom this time.  She did really well at first.  But after the third or fourth time she tried to help him, so Chris held her hands.  I think he must have hit the spot, though.  There was definite evidence of blood on the Q-tip. 

Follow-up care?  Oh, that will be fun.  We are supposed to keep it moist.  That means squirting saline solution up in her nose three or four times a day.  Wish us luck with that one, especially in the mornings.  But we will deal with it.  That is certainly better than worrying about major nosebleeds all the time. 

Psalms 118:15-16 says, “Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: ‘The Lord's right hand has done mighty things!  The Lord's right hand is lifted high; the Lord's right hand has done mighty things!’”

Father, thank you for the medical miracles you have allowed us to discover.  Amen.