Oh joy, the hits keep coming..:(

[TZ]

For those of you following the saga of my life, I now have health insurance and have been to see my primary care physician (and am being successfully treated by him) however today I finally got to see my hematologist and the news was not good.
My platelets are bad, bad bad, most people have between 100-400. I have been running at about 700 until lately..today I got a reading of 1,350. Yes thats right. 10x normal. Immediately I am upping my dosage of aspirin from lose dosage 81mg to full dose 200mg I think. And while he doesn't THINK I'm at a risk for a stroke (being younger than 60) he is concerned about why my platelets and wbc's keep rising. Soo we talked. Since this is a rare disorder, we agreed it would probably be a good idea to go see the big specialist for this..he is at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Oh well, at least its not full winter anymore. I couldn't handle that. But on top of having a fight where I disowned my sisters this week, its just been a GREAT week for me...:banghead:

[ThomCat]

1. I really hope they can bring your platelets down.

Please, please, please don't develop any complications. :hug: :hug: :hug:

Getting your sister out of your life will probably reduce your stress and help you in a whole bunch of ways. Once the platelet issues are resolved I hope you have some smooth sailing for a long, long time.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear turtlensue...

I am really sorry to hear this...

High platelets can be a problem...

Too bad they can't be harvested!

I agree, you need to find out just what's causing this...

Good luck, sweetie...

And do, please, keep us informed!

:hug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Aw man! *hugs*

[lost-in-nj]

4. oh hon

:hug:

so, do they have any idea why??

good thoughts and prayers



lost

[TZ]

5. I have this condition called essential thrombocythemia

Where the bone marrow makes too many platelets. There is a genetic mutation that about 55% of ET patients have..I've been tested twice..negative both times. So no, they really don't know why I have this problem.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. ~~~

:hug::hug::hug:

I'm so sorry that you're ill. Having family troubles can't be of much help. Want to listen to some Bach on Sunday? Music might help your spirit; and you can't beat the cost...It's free!

:hug::hug::hug:

[TZ]

10. At Strathmore?

What time? I'll think about it...:hi:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

17. I wish...

Actually, it's at 4pm, at St Barnabus Church, which is near PG Community College. It's an elegant building that dates to 1774:


Let me know if you want more info, and I'll send it in a private message.

[seemunkee]

7. No one at NIH?

Sucks you have to travel that far when NIH is just down the road.

[TZ]

8. Its pretty rare

Only 1:200,000 people have this condition. There's a doc at Hopkins who specializes in a *similar* disease but I really need to see the guy who knows mine.

[Xipe Totec]

9. Any chance you could donate platelets?

and would it help while they try to figure out what's wrong?

[TZ]

11. probably not a good idea

Not only do I have too many, but the morphology is wrong..they are weird shapes and sizes I think. Apparantly you can look at them under a microscope and see visibly the abnormalities.

[elleng]

12. But you have health insurance!

Funny that my daughter JUST phoned to say she'd been accepted for insurance (by bc/bs) after having been 'rejected' by ? aetna? She's been angry and not talking to me, but wanted to ask whether I could help out with her premium! So she decided to speak to me!

I have no such probs as you, turtlensue, but I do recognize the importance of this matter.

Be well.

[Haole Girl]

13. I hope things get better soon...

very soon!! :hug:

[Gormy Cuss]

14. Best wishes for a good assessment from that Mayo specialist.

It's good that you were able to find someone who knows the most about it.

[OmahaBlueDog]

15. The folks at Mayo do good work

I have a cousin who'd been in poor health most of his adolescent life. Chronic weight loss. They went through AIDS (no), drug use (no), are you sure it's not drug use (n0).

So he goes to Mayo. Mayo has him bring every scrap of medical records, and tells him to tell his life story (medically) yet again. Turns out he got Lyme disease from a transfusion at birth.

So I wish you luck, but will not be able to resist thinking of Peter Graves in Airplane saying "Give me Ham on 5, Hold the Mayo"

[lightningandsnow]

16. Sending lots of hugs.

You're awesome. Do people ever tell you that? Because you are!

:hug:

[TZ]

18. Awww

Thank you. I think you are great too. Those nimnuts who said bad things about you in GD the other day, I wanted to SMACK them.:hi: :hug:

[KitchenWitch]

19. Oh man!

:hug:

How long will you have to be in Rochester?

I had a bad platelet thing when my hemoglobin dipped to 7.7 two years ago. I hope they find out what it is, and find a treatment plan for you.

:pals:

[TZ]

20. I imagine it will only be a day or two

Probably take my blood run some tests. I just hope, hope, hope that I don't have to do ANOTHER bone marrow biopsy..Thats hellish......:scared:

[KitchenWitch]

21. OH GODS....

I still curl up into the fetal position (on my back, thank you) thinking about the bone marrow biopsy...

The doctor who performed mine was, how can I put this delicately, as empathetic as a prison guard. It was performed in the oncology office, and I can only imagine the patients in the waiting area were probably freaked by my groans. I really wish I had been sedated for the procedure. I had no novocaine, no pain meds, no nothing.

x(

[TZ]

22. geez

I at least had local anesthesia and it still was incredibly painful.:hug:

[KitchenWitch]

23. It has been 21 years and I still cower in fear at the mere mention of it.

Did I mention that I have PTSD?

:crazy: