On Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019, I collapsed in the shower. I only remember bits and pieces of what happened next.
I heard my partner’s voice telling me to open my eyes as he cleaned my vomit off me, but I was shivering and fighting to stay awake. I told him to leave the water running over my face and I’d be able to get up in a moment. Then I blacked out again.
I vaguely remember hearing him call an ambulance. “My girlfriend has been bleeding since Thursday, and she’s collapsed in the shower. I can’t keep her conscious.
Send someone now.” With my hair knotted and soaking, three paramedics had to brace me as I walked no more than 10 feet from the bathroom to the gurney in our bedroom. A short ambulance ride later, I was in the emergency room.
It took four nurses to finally find a vein strong enough to get an IV in. A blood test showed my hemoglobin at 5 grams per deciliter (g/dl). Women in their 30s should have a hemoglobin level of 12 to 13 g/dl.
Less than 9, you need medical attention. Less than 8, you need a blood transfusion. They started the transfusion almost immediately.
It took three days and five bags of blood to get my levels to a safe number: 9.8 when I left the hospital. Meanwhile, a transvaginal ultrasound uncovered two sizable fibroids on my uterus.
They were inflamed and bleeding. I almost bled to death and thought it was my period. During my weeklong stay at the hospital, there were a lot of questions.
Have you always had heavy menstrual cycles? Yes. When .