goawaybleeder

I'm awful at darts and my wife and I laughed since this was the first question.

I can't do full contact sports which is interesting since my dad is a retired football coach. Certain sports that have risks like skateboarding or mountainbiking, stuff like that. I get bleeds (internal bleeding) every now and then and if/when that happens I treat it by shooting up some synthetic clotting factor and everything is usually fine by the next day. Sometimes they can be really painful. Luckily I haven't really had to worry about gashes or anything like that. I've had a few times where bleeds are so severe that I've had to go to the hospital and had a factor IV in for a few days. That's fun. Fortunately that hasn't happened in several years. I infuse once a week so I typically have enough factor in my blood to take care of any day-to-day common trauma so there's not much worry there.

I just infuse right before I get tattooed. What's funny is that my tattoo artists tell me that I really don't bleed much at all during sessions compared to people without hemophilia. The first time I ever got tattooed I don't think I bled at all actually. Kinda freaked me and my artist out haha. I'll have some swelling for a day or two afterwards but that's typical for anyone. If it swells more than what I'd expect it to, I'll just infuse again and I'm fine. Plus I'm used to needles so I guess that might make it a little easier too.

It's better than "hey man, so like, if you like, get a paper cut, will you die?"

Absolutely. I consider myself lucky compared to a lot of other hemophiliacs I've met who have a lot of joint damage due to bleeds. I live a pretty normal, active lifestyle and try not to let it keep me from doing so.