THROMBOCYTOPENIA

It all started when took Max into the Doctor's office Last Wednesday the 12th. He had been complaining of a headache and stomach ache for 2 days, 2 of the symptoms Marshall had when he came down with strep throat the week before. So I was sure Max had it too. The test came back negative, but when I showed the doctor all the bruises Max had on his back, ear, chest and arms, she seemed a little concerned. Max doesn't just bruise, he also gets these red dot type things all over. They are called petechiae (pe-TEEK-ee-ay). He has been getting them for that last 2 years, at least. She did a full exam and discovered that his spleen was slightly enlarged as well. She said the bruising and petechiae was VERY unusual and she was concerned. She wanted to run some blood tests but was unsure of the specificity so she called a hematologist to confirm. He told her that he wanted to see Max the next day in his office for an exam.

So Thursday morning at 10am we headed across town to Dr. Bernstein's office. He did an exam and they drew some blood. His first reaction was that he probably had a bruising disorder but that would not be confirmed for 3 weeks. He also ran quick cbc to get a total blood count, which took only 5 minutes to get the results. He came in and said "we don't have to wait 3 weeks to figure out the problem." He was very positive that his white blood count was high, which meant leukemia was out of the equation. The problem was his platelet count. The normal range for platelets is between 150,000-450,000. Max's level was at 2,000, or nearly non-existant. He goes on to tell me that what Max has is called Thromobytopenia, or a lack of platelets in the blood. This was most likely caused by a virus that he got. His body tried to destroy them, destroying the platelets too. There are 2 types of this, acute and chronic. Acute patients recover in 6 months to a year where chronic patients could have to deal with it indefinately. I was so very relieved that it wasn't cancer, but still had a hard time digesting what was going on with Max. Platelets is what your body uses to stop bleeding. So if Max was to get a severe injury, especially to his head, it could be fatal. Very scary for me. Max is such an active kid and loves to play hard. I got thinking back to the past 2-3 months when Max has been playing football outside in the streets with some neighbors everyday. They play rough and sometimes tackle or dive for the ball. To think that something could've happened to him, beyond his impressive bruises, was scary and yet I had to feel lucky and greatful that nothing has happened.

To help his platelet count, Max was admitted to the hospital on Friday night at 4pm to get was is called IVIG, or intravenous immunoglobulin. Immunoglobulin (IG) is a blood product that contains pooled antibodies extracted from the plasma of 1,000-3,000 donors. This is supposed to shock his body into accepting the antibodies and hopefully preventing him from killing off his platelets. They didn't get it started until 1am and it took 12 hours to administer the whole dose. He got finished around 1:30 and was discharged shortly after.

We go back to the Hematologist tomorrow to get another CBC and see if it helped to increase his platelet count. If it works, yeah!!!!! If not, we try something else. Either way, we are still waiting for the other blood work to come back to confirm if he has a bleeding or bruising disorder as well. If he does, then it is likely that his condition is acute. If he has no other condition or disorder then it is chronic. Either way, we will deal with it once we know.

Today Max feels lousy. He has a small rash on his neck and his legs hurt. He's had a really bad headache all day and puked after church, all normal side effects from the treatment. Jeff and I are fine and appreciate all your concern and support. We really are so greatful that it isn't as bad as it could have been. Worst case....Max stays home with me and I home school him and he becomes an avid golfer and tennis player. Stay tuned for more updates on the exciting life of the Hulet family!!!