Very glad things are OK, Abby. I can't quite figure out what all happened, but I'm happy it was a false alarm.

Leeches are most often used these days by plastic and vascular surgeons, especially for reconstructive or reattachment surgery. It's not the blood loss that's the goal, but the local anti-clotting effect. Despite the old joke about Giuseppe the tailor, the reason it was so difficult to reattach a finger or an arm that was accidentally severed was that, no matter how good the surgeon was, all those tiny blood vessels would clot off and prevent the re-establishment of the circulation. Put a few leeches on the area, though, and their anticoagulant keeps those little guys open and lets the blood flow through, without causing the problems of systemic anticoagulant medications. Not pretty, but it works.

There, aren't you glad you know that?

Aloha,
Mark