Platelets 3 - Jeri 0

It happened!! My platelets came through again.... as in dropping.

Petechiae - shows up on legs and arms

This is the 3rd time since January 20th and the 10th or 12th time since February 2009 that I have been in a 'life threatening" situation. Funny... I've never worried about that status until yesterday.

Yesterday....
I had some new funky things going on - as in signs of low platelets - so I stopped at the AF hospital on my way home from work for some blood sucking. I was home approximately 10 minutes when my doctor called and told me my count was 5. FIVE??? 1 1/2 weeks ago it was 380... FIVE??? Not being a "blood" specialist the doctor wanted me to go over to UVRMC and see the on-call oncologist (as my oncologist is out of town). He told me they might admit me.

I told my kids the situation - probably not my smartest move. I'll rethink that next time

I was in no hurry to go... but he was in a hurry to get me going. Jeri:"ok I'll go after I eat". Doctor: "Jeri how old are you?" Jeri:"just 10 minutes and I'll be on my way" Doctor: "How old are you? " ok ok I get the point. So I go into the bedroom and pull down my little canvas bag.

Now THIS is the scary part. A tag on the bag hit (barely noticeable) the back of hand. A normal, healthy person with great platelets would never notice this. In 3.2 seconds the back of my hand was filled with blood.. I had a huge hematoma. I looked at that and didn't know what to do. I realized at that moment - any type of bump to my body was causing this same thing inside. I finally understood what "life threatening" meant. At that moment I realized that I can actually die from this... I could easily have an aneurysm in my brain - while I sit, walk or sleep! This
thought pretty much humbled me and I was fairly emotional the remainder of the evening.

Right after the incident

This morning (next day)

Not to belabor the depressing story... a decision was made at the ER to give me prednizone (again) to stabilize me until Wednesday morning. So how GREAT is medicine? Costly? yes But how wonderful it is that there are options out there to help in most medical situations. I sometimes get stuck feeling sorry for myself. It appears that now I'll be treated with a weekly chemo drug IV for at least four weeks. I strongly dislike (we don't say hate) IVs!! I don't want to be nauseous for even a minute but how fortunate for me that there is something that might help control my incurable disease so I can hang around for awhile.

My goal is to not look at the meds as punishment but to look at them as a blessing. It hasn't been that long ago where these meds weren't an option for ITP. Besides, hanging with Scott, my kids and grandkids makes it all worthwhile!!