Every LiL Bit
So what’s been going on this week? I had my weekly blood draw early Monday morning, and then I drove my sister Amber and nephew Aaron around for some shopping. It’s been raining like a hurricane in Michigan the last week and a half, Amber owns a truck and didn’t have a truck bed cover (thats one of the things we were shopping for). I didn’t want her to have to squash her groceries all in the truck cab nor have the groceries get ruined by the rain.
Tuesday and Wednesday I went to visit Rob. Had a whole list of errands we both needed to get done and accomplished very little for a couple of reasons;
Rob is not very motivated on his days off, getting him up AND out of his home by 2pm is a miracle. I kept running out of energy and enthusiasm, my joints have been feeling increasingly stiff and sore and I’m having problems with allergies/asthma, shortness of breath, wheezing. Also we spent time each day at the Hospital visiting Rob’s mom.
Interesting coincidence is Rob’s Mom has been in the hospital all week because she also is having autoimmune problems. She has had Hashimoto’s thyroiditis for 15 years or so. In the last month she began to get ill and swell up like a balloon. Her immune system is attacking her kidneys, they weren’t filtering out the water. She has been diagnosed with Nephrotic syndrome.
‘Nephrotic syndrome is a condition marked by very high levels of protein in the urine (proteinuria); low levels of protein in the blood; swelling, especially around the eyes, feet, and hands; high cholesterol and sometimes high blood pressure. Nephrotic syndrome results from damage to the kidneys’ glomeruli. Glomeruli are tiny blood vessels that filter waste and excess water from the blood and send them to the bladder as urine.’
She is undergoing treatment and doing much better, the swelling has decrease quite a lot, her urine protein levels are down and she will be released from the hospital tomorrow. They were just waiting for her kidney biopsy results to come back to figure out the exact medication to treat her with.
Late Wednesday I was messing around on Rob’s computer, looking stuff up on Nephrotic syndrome for him and thought I’ve never googled my own name, I wonder what I might find? I found a message from a college friend looking to find me, but the message was from 2003! I emailed the address given, but have received no response. She lived in Washington at the time. Today I used zaba people search and if the information is correct it seems that just this year she moved back to Michigan. It didn’t give an email, but I do have postal address so I will send her a letter.
Today, Thursday morning I returned to my home. Checked my mail (more medical bills and junk mail), listened to my phone messages and gave my kitties treats and cuddles. I was told they were throwing tantrums while I was gone.
I got some Good news on the answering machine. The hematologist office had called me. They told me I am to continue to decrease my prednisone another 10 mg, so i’m down to 20mg a day. My platelet count as of Monday’s test is 133 x10^3/uL. That’s means my platelets went up 10 x10^3/uL. YEAH! 
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Comments:
“little tantrums” is not the appropriate description. Angela’s orange tabby was wickedly wild. He likes to climb up into shelves, ontop of dressers or PC desks and then systematically knock off items one at a time. I do mean systematically push, using one paw… and then check after each thing falls to see if anyone notices. It’s a riot, but a huge mess.
I wrote to you a few days ago regrding ITP which I also have. Last week my
regular blood test revealed that the count had dropped to 31. As I mentioned
berfore I don’t know how that compares with the way you describe the
platelet count but the doctor said it was dangerously low and could result
in fatal internal bleeding. Since I have been treated with WinRow and IVIG
in the past and had severe reactions to both, they decided to use Ritoxan
this time. The previous treatments worked for 6 months to 15 months even
though I had to be hospitalized each time because of the side effects. I
started the ritoxan last Friday along with increased doses of prednisone,
tylenol, and benedryl and had only mild side effects. They want to continue
it 1 day a week for 8 weeks. It takes hours to administer so you have to
allow a full day for treatment.
So if your doctor suggests using ritoxan, maybe it won’t be so bad. I
was diagnosed with systemic vasculitis in 1998 and am currently in remission
but my doctor said that people with one auto immune disorder often get other
such disorders and that ITP is a common disorder for people who have had any
form of vasculitis. Elizabeth La Grua, Staunton, VA
Platelet count is on the way up!!!! YooHoo!!! That’s awesome news. Keep pluuging along with that Macrobiotic shit. You better out-live me or I’ll kick your ass.
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