Diet Causing Bleeding?

Asked surgeon if he could test the blood for cancer cells. Maybe continual bleeding is caused by presence of cancer cells not letting the mastectomy wound heal? He said it’s highly unlikely, since the bleeding is on both sides, and there was no cancer on the left side to start with. But to put my mind at ease, he’ll send it out to the lab for a cytology report.

He drained bloody fluid from my right side -- from the lantern drain, which was fresh blood. Looked like tube was blocked, so he flushed it out and drained more fluid -- this was dark black. Total 22 ml. drained. Skin pouches are forming again, so now I have blood in the drain AND blood in my chest. Yikes.

Hemoglobin level has started climbing back up -- 9.9. Hooray. No blood transfusion needed.

Chemo doc says my platelet adhesiveness (hence bleeding) might be affected by lack of protein in my diet. I should be getting 60-80 grams of protein per day. She said to go back to eating lean meat and eggs. Stay off dairy, though. There’s no hard evidence, but she personally believes the fat in dairy promotes cancer. She said radiation will have to be delayed until we can get the bleeding under control.

After the doctor visits, Tony and I had prime rib for lunch -- first meat since January. And for the first time, I finished my meal before he did! It was yummy. I had to play the cancer card when they wouldn’t accommodate me and replace the side dish with vegetables. The waitress called the manager over and he refused to change the side dish for me until I pointed to my bald head and said, “Look, I have cancer. I’m on a very strict diet.” He immediately agreed to let me have my veggies. So in this unbending, rule-following country, you’ve got to have cancer if you want to make any kind of request that’s off the menu. Big sigh.

10 p.m. Noticed purplish discoloration (bruising?) on skin near armpit and skin lesion, at top of mastectomy scar. No pain though. Worry? Too tired. Will worry tomorrow.