When WAM...one morning I was showering after a night out...rushing to get ready for a class, when all of a sudden I passed out. I woke up with shampoo in my eyes, mouth and feeling as if I was going to vomit. I tried screaming for help, but I couldn't get any sound to come out. I really thought I might die. I pulled myself up using all of my strength. I tried to wrap a towel around myself and crawled on all fours (in a public dorm) down the hallway and into my bedroom. I then laid on the floor and was convulsing for what felt like ever.
All that kept running through my mind was that I felt like I was on one of those "Rescue 911" shows. I felt helpless, scared, but very determined to get the phone. When I finally reached my cordless phone- I called my friend downstairs...one of them thought I was making it up and got me a bag of peas to put on my head. The other one, Delia (now- she's a nurse) drove me to the hospital straight away. After many tests the doctors decided that I would need to have an emergency bone marrow. My family wasn't there yet because they were still driving up from Long Island. I was so nervous. All I wanted was my mom or my sister to hold my hand and tell me it was going to be OK.
I heard my mom right when I was about to go in for my bone marrow. She wanted to come in, but the doctor told her it would be too emotional to see me in that much pain. Sweet Jesus, pain? I think I had an outter body experience when they put that needle into my hip. The pressure and pain was so intense that I couldn't have gotten through it any other way.
The next day, I was diagnosed with ITP (immune thrombocytopenic purpura)... ITP is an autoimmune disease. In autoimmune diseases the body mounts an immune attack toward one or more seemingly normal organ systems. In ITP, platelets are the target. They are marked as foreign and eliminated in the spleen or sometimes, the liver. Because this process removes platelets from the body, people with ITP have a low platelet count or thrombocytopenia.
Platelets
I have had about twenty "episodes" (as I like to call them)-throughout the years. My lowest platelet count has been 11. Not 11, 000, but rather 11. My highest has been around 175, 000. Inbetween and most normal for me is about 100,000.
That brings me to today. Today has been bitter sweet. I almost passed out at work yesterday and had to leave early. I came home to my apt and slept from 3pm until this morning waking up for a few minutes throughout the night. I went to my hematologist this morning, thinking it was definitely my platelets dropping.
After loads of blood work, turns out my platelets are at 100,000 and couldn't be better. My appearance-ehhh not so much. Lets put it this way- I look like a zombie...gray skin, black rings under my eyes. Just not the picture of a healthy 25 year old girl. He sent a bunch of tests to the lab to look for Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Limes disease and other auto immune diseases.
Now comes the fun part....waiting. I am going back to work tomorrow, mostly because I want to get on with my "normal" life and stop worrying about things I have no control over. I also miss my class full of six and seven year olds terribly. They always make me appreciate everything in my life so much. Thoughts will be in the back of my mind until Tuesday when I speak to the doctor...but that's just where I'm going to keep em'.
