The day before around 11 in the morning Kerouac was sitting in his favorite chair drinking whiskey and malt liquor, trying to scribble notes for a book about his father's print shop. Kerouac suddenly felt sick to his stomach, which was nothing unusual, and headed for the bathroom. He began to throw up large amounts of blood, and yelled to his wife, "Stella, I'm bleeding." Eventually he was persuaded to go to the hospital and was taken by ambulance to St. Anthony's. Blood continued to pour from his mouth and he underwent several transfusions. That evening Kerouac underwent surgery in an attempt to tie off all the burst blood vessels, but his damaged liver prevented his blood from clotting.