Em's ITP Update~ Oct. 29, 2013

Em participating in a drawing at the PDSA
Conference, Bethesda, Maryland 2013

Em had blood work last week at Children's Hospital on Oct. 22, 2013. Her platelets went down a bit to 44,000. She had been fighting a cold all week. The cold could possibly be the cause for the dip in her platelet count. I was devastated, but remained strong. She took it like a champ. We were hopeful that her platelet count would go up. She is a tough cookie.
At her next appt. at Children's she will have blood work for genetic blood disorders and Lupus.
Last week was rough. She was sick all week with a cold. She had 2 different appointments at 2 different Cancer Centers. One of the hard parts about having a benign blood disorder is that Hematologists work in Cancer Centers.
One of the most humbling experiences in life is walking into a Cancer Center as a patient, even more humbling and terrifying is walking in as a parent. Makes one reflect & appreciate the good things we have in life.
On Tuesday, Oct 29, we go for allergy testing. Since we moved she has had lots of trouble with Seasonal allergies. We wonder if there could be a connection??

Mom's ITP Story

In March of 2011, I experienced one of the scariest times in my life. I was diagnosed with ITP, an autoimmune blood disorder in which my spleen was attacking my blood platelets.  September is ITP Awareness Month, therefore, I would like to share my family’s struggle with this little known blood disorder.I am the mother of 2 young children, so life is and was pretty busy and non-stop go, go, go. We did not live near our extended family, therefore, we did not have the support of family to pick up the slack when I or my husband felt ill. Toward the end of 2010, I remember constantly feeling tired. Normally I was able to be pretty active, I walked, I hiked, I skied. But at this time in my life I felt like a 4 engine airplane only running on 1 engine. I remember just wanting to lay on the couch. I could not keep up with my very active 3 year old son.