Bleeding

***IF FRANK DISCUSSION OF MENSTRUATION IS NOT YOUR THING, PLEASE FIND A NEW BLOG TO READ, AT LEAST TODAY.***

I've reached a point my life where I bleed regularly, every 25 days. This was definitely not always the case. I got my first period when I was 12, and for the first couple of years, my period was very irregular, and long in all senses. The literature told me that 28 days was "normal" but that some variation was also normal, and that bleeding itself usually lasted from 3 to 7 days. For a while though, I would "bleed," or rather, ooze brownish paste, for 14 to 21 days, and this cycle would repeat very irregularly, but with plenty of non-bleeding time in between bleeding time. I was concerned that this was abnormal, but not too comfortable thinking/asking questions about my body. So I didn't. In recent years, I have talked to others, and confirmed that my experience wasn't unique, but whether it's "normal" or "usual" I still have no idea.

Anyway, back to the present. I usually track my period, which lets me know when to expect it. Since I'm traveling, I definitely thought to myself, I should try to avoid being on greyhound (all day) on the second day of my period, because it would just be a pain, it being the day I tend to bleed the most. I noted that I would be on greyhound the third day of my period, which would be, I thought, not as bad. However, I forgot to take into account times of day, and the fact that while it was officially a new day, I would be traveling on greyhound within 48 hours of starting to bleed.

I went to bed last night at 1:30a.m., set my alarm for 5:30a.m. My alarm didn't go off, due to some weird fluke that sometimes happens if I have an unread text message (which I received 3 minutes before my alarm was due to go off), so I woke up at 5:40 to my friend banging on my other friend's door. I hurriedly got ready, luckily managed to remember to empty my cup, and made it on time for my bus. As I had planned, I was exhausted, and just wanted to sleep. This plan was going pretty well, despite having to get off the bus for a 45 minute layover around 8:30a.m., and I almost didn't get off the bus when we stopped at 10:30 for 10 minutes. Then I felt the unmistakable sensation that meant that my fucking cup was about to runneth over. Kegeling all the way, I short-step quick-walked to the bathroom in this gas station that doubled as a greyhound stop. Two stalls. The one not occupied had a sign taped up that said, "Do not flush anything except toilet paper." Uh-oh. What about blood?

No time to worry about that, I went in the stall. Super gross, toilet full of toilet paper, pee all over the seat. No time to worry about that, I grabbed some toilet paper and raised the seat, just to get it out of the way. Hovering, I managed to extract and dump my bloody cup, then wipe it off a bit. Would have preferred to rinse it, but what ya gonna do? Got it back in, more toilet paper to clean up the slight leakage that happened despite my best attempts. Meanwhile I hear people wanting to use the toilet. I lower the seat, wipe it off because, well, because I'm a decent person and I'm about to wash my hands anyway. Attempt to flush the toilet, which, I forgot to mention, has been doing some weird gurgling the entire time I've been in the stall, and the water level had significantly lowered as well. Move the flush handle in various directions, succeed in swishing the water about, and then raising the water level. Accept that if I don't want to miss the bus, I'm going to just have to leave the toilet clearly clogged and full of my blood. Leave, wash the fuck out of my hands, move on with my day.

Now, the whole point of this entry, is that when it's not the second/third day of my period, I can leave my cup in a lot longer. When it's the fifth day of my period, I can leave it in for 12-24 hours, and then take it out and be done with it for another 20 days. The whole entire point is that next time, I'm going to stay put an extra day, so I don't have to deal with disgusting bathrooms on top of bleeding. Oh, and also, despite the ick factor of this particular situation, I want to extol the virtues of reusable menstrual cups, especially those made out of silicone, because you can boil them and most people are not allergic to them. So, yay! I never have to buy tampons (or pads), and when I'm not bleeding copiously, I can leave my cup in for a long time without worrying about TSS (toxic shock syndrome), and oh yeah, if I'm expecting my period, I can put it in early! That one I tend to forget about, but it can come in super handy. And finally, it makes it super easy to use my blood as plant fertilizer (plants love it).

Thanks for reading about bleeding! (Oh, by the way, of course I realize that menstruation is not bleeding in the traditional sense of the word. If you were tempted to tell me that, just know that I'm tempted to stop being a pacifist long enough to smack you upside your head!)