The Girl with the Issue of Blood

Hey Stars!!!!!!!!

Firstly, I must apologise for my absence here.

As you already know, this is a personal blog and I honestly don’t know how to write a blog post without being completely open. Gelax Chatroom has always been a safe space for you, my Stars and me. I do not have it in me to come here why holding back or when I’m not ready to be vulnerable.

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Life has been good since we last talked even though it has had one or two sour moments. Overall, I’ve been doing well and I’m quite happy.

I did miss y’all though. Like madt!

HOW ARE YOU MY STAR? Really how have you been? I HAVE MISSED YOU SO MUCH.

Please go to the comment section quickly and tell me what’s up with you and how you have been.

Let me give you quick gist, *wink*

Y’all remember that I am a Single, Celibate Christian, right? Well, that’s about change, whoooooop! Okies, don’t bother ask me any question, please. Thank you.

I must say, one of the perks of being sexually inactive is NEVER having a pregnancy scare. To burst your brain, I never used to keep track of my monthly cycle, not until this particular experience. Na when e come e come. LOL

Frankly, I have to admit that I may not always be the smartest girl in the room when it comes to female anatomy. Wasn’t it the other day I found out that as a girl, I have three holes down there? It’s so bad that I can barely tell when I’m ovulating, especially if the symptoms aren’t the obvious ones like heightened libido, looking usually sexier, mucus discharge, lower abdominal pain and tender breasts.

Now, let’s dive into the story proper.

October 2021 – Why is the Red Dragon Back?

I moved in with my friend, Tosin Brown and her sister because my new place was undergoing some renovations. My monthly visitor, aka Red Dragon, who was around then ended a couple of days after. Now imagine my surprise when about a week later, she was back.

Ah ahn, wetin dey sup?

Nonchalant me thought it had to be my heavy workload around that time and the stress of moving houses. Brown and her sister were more concerned and would ask me every day if there was any update.

“No, I’m still bleeding”, was my invariant response.

“Wow! I’m sorry but I think you should do something about it”, a sister would say.

“Bolaji, this is not normal, I think you should go see a doctor”, the other would remark.

Their questions and comments, even if I knew were out of concern, were becoming embarrassing and I just wanted to move into my place already. At least I‘ll be facing my problems alone and not have to deal with the concern and bugging from the ladies. This was what I told myself.

Might I mention that when it concerns my health, I’m not one to run to the internet to ask questions? Uncle Bolu, a pharmacist and big brother, has always been my unpaid health Google for well over a decade now. Bless his kind heart!

Uncle Bolu referred me to his doctor friend who told me straight up I needed to check into a hospital for physical examinations, but I was on production then. He reluctantly prescribed Tranexamic acid to stop the bleeding pending my visit to the hospital.

Alas, my problems were stronger than expensive drug because I still went on to bleed for two weeks.  If memory serves me right, I menstruated for at least 18 days in October 2021. Nope, that wasn’t the end of it. Before the first week in November ended, madam red dragon showed up, again.

I cried.

Mind you, I’m not talking spottings here o but proper heavy flow. This was me who barely weighed 54kg, how the heck was I even physically able to bleed that much? Gosh! I was frustrated and scared.

November – January 2022 – Countless Visits to the hospital

Bleeding thrice in two months for prolonged periods was not matter to be taken lightly hence my eventual visit to the hospital. The doctor said we should start by treating me for infections after a series of repeated questions, prodding, blood draws, and peeing in tubes later.

Every time I was on set, I was super conscious of whoever my roommate was and/or others noticing that I was still on my period after the fourth day. This meant waking up early to bathe, dress up and being finicky with my disposal of pads or anything that might suggest I was still menstruating. Imagine wrapping set late into the night, waking up barely two-three hours later to cover my tracks, and still having to face the long day that was ahead of me as a Production Manager. It was mentally and physically exhausting!

Birth Control for Miss No-Sex

I had an appointment with my doctor every week I wasn’t on set and each visit meant more prodding, the same questions about having sex since the last time I was there, drugs and more bills. After nearly six weeks with no improvement, the doctor suggested placing me on contraceptives for a few months to control my hormones or whatever. LMAO! This was when I lost it.

Are you kidding me? Why are you talking to me about birth control when I don’t even know what it’s like to have sperm inside of me, and all I have done was bleed non-stop out for months?! My, my… there was no holding my shits together anymore. Too jaded to be angry. All I wanted was to be normal again.

At this point, only a handful of people knew about this. My doctor, uncle Bolu, my uncle & aunty, my producer –who I had to tell after I broke down on set one day– and my boyfriend. {Speaking of boyfriend, I was in a long distance relationship at the time with a partner who was emotionally unavailable. Lord, pleaseeeee save me from my choice of men lately because, phew!} All the money I was making was going straight into the hospital’s account with no tangible result to show for it. I also couldn’t help but worry that the supermarket attendants in my area were starting to wonder what I was doing with all the jumbo packs of sanitary towel I bought every week.

This whole thing is crazy because life was good. I was doing the job I love, making money, having fun but bleeding away, literally and financially.

In comes my friends – The shine in my sunshine

As a blogger and talkative, people automatically don’t expect (or believe) that I can be private. The thing is, I share only what I want to share, when I’m ready to share. But boy, when I’m ready, I do not hold back and if you’ve been a Star in this Galaxy, surely you can tell. LOL

Telling a few of my closest friends what I was going through did help a great deal. So great that when my crazy best friend called me the girl with the issue of blood, we both had such a long laugh about it. Soon enough, The Girl with the Issue of Blood became a running joke with all my closest friends and honestly, being able to laugh about this thing that plagued me made it more bearable.

READ PART 2 HERE