December 6,2010

I noticed a funky rash on my shins, it was a red lacy looking rash, it was not hot or itchy.  It was there for a few days so I called the doctor to make an appointment to have it looked at.  At this time I did not have insurance so I was going thru the community nurse in LaGrange.  So the soonest appointment was in 10 days.  In the mean time I should tell you that back on 11-4-10 I was sick with strep throat, this is important because this is what the doctors think caused my ITP. On 11-11-10 I was walking down the hallway at home and stepped on the edge of a board game box and cut my toe.  It was cut pretty bad and bleed a lot, I guess I should have realized there was a problem then.  But I had never heard of ITP before and I had no clue why I would bleed so much.  I just figured it was a bad cut and that was why it bleed so much.  Since I did not have insurance I opted out of going to the ER to have it looked at.  I called the doctor and they said if it does not stop bleeding that I would need to go to the ER. It seemed to be ok so we went to Pleasantdale for the Veterans Day assembly.  It seemed that my toe was taking forever to heal but it didn't bother me so I didn't think anything of it.  On 11-26-10, black Friday, I decided to go out and shop all night for the first time ever!  Val and I went out around midnight and we were going to go to Toys R Us, we got there and there was a line a half mile long so we skipped it and went to walmart.  We shopped there for a bit, stood in line for an hour and a half, then went to Toys R Us.  The line had gone down since the store opened so we went in, again waited in a line for about an hour and then left.  I took Val home and then went back to Wal-mart to get my door buster!  Then went home and waited a few hours then met Lori at 6am at K-Mart.  I came home around 8am after being up all night I am finally going to sleep!  I wake up to find my "friend" came to visit for the first time since September of 09, I was on the depo provera shot that stops your period.  I had my last depo shot in December of 09.  Now it is the first week of December when I noticed the rash, there were also a few other things going on that I didn't really think much of.  I was waking up with blood on my teeth and when I brushed my gums bleed a lot.  Also I had a few bruises, one on my left leg and one on my right hand that also had a lump on it and one on my forehead.  I remember being at First Church for Emily & Molly's Christmas play and I was crying a lot because it was the day that Steve & I were supposed to get married.  Erin & I were talking about the weird bruises and wondering what it might be.  She mentioned that when Lauren found out she had Leukemia it was because of a bruise on her leg. However her bruise was very large.  Anyway I didn't give it much thought and went on like it was no big deal. One night I woke up in the middle of the night and got sick.  I just made it into the bathroom so I threw up in the sink.  I never put my glasses on or turned on the light but I was pretty sure that I had thrown up blood.  On December 16, 2010, which i refer to as D-Day for me, I had my appointment at 9:45am.  I had my mom come with me just in case they were going to have to draw blood, since I am a fainter I thought it would be good to have someone that could drive me home after I pass out.  I go in the room and the nurse is taking my vitals, no temp, breathing is good however she can't get my blood pressure.  She said that she just could not hear it at all.  I thought wow kinda weird but whatever.  I have tried to take other peoples BP and I could never hear it, but I'm not a RN!!!  So the doctor comes in and I have this piece of paper with all these things written down about all the strange things that have happened the last few weeks.  I tell the doctor that I am not feeling real good and all the other stuff.  He does all the regular doctor stuff and then sits and begins to write.  It seemed like an eternity he just kept writing and writing!  In the mean time I'm starting to get scared he's not telling me anything at all.  Finally, he puts the pen down and says I will have the nurse come in and draw some blood.  Great so excited about this news!  As I mentioned earlier I don't like needles and I faint every time!  So I'm really nervous now!  The nurse comes in with a piece of paper in her hand and says you will have to go to the hospital to have this done.  The doctor would like a bleeding time done and they can not do that in the office. So we were off with the orders for blood work.  I had called Erin to tell her what was going on and she was with Amy, Amy said to read her what the order said so she could see if she could figure out what they are looking for.  I told her and she wasn't sure, she said it didn't sound like any of the same tests that Lauren had.  We didn't have breakfast so we decided to go to Quiznos to eat before going to the hospital.  At about noon we walked into LaGrange Memorial Hospital to have the blood work done.  You have to go to registration first and then they send you over to the lab.  The phlebotomist comes out and calls my name, she is this tiny little thing probably 4 foot 10 and maybe 120 pounds soaking wet!  I tell her that I need to lay down because I am most likely going to faint.  Apparently they don't have much experience with people like me there because she had a real hard time trying to find a place for me to lay down.  She was trying to tell me to just sit in the chair she would make sure that I don't fall down.  I looked at her and said you know I'm 300 pounds I don't think you will be able to pick me up off the floor.  She didn't think it was funny but I insisted that I lay down or I'm not doing it.  Finally they find me a place to lay down, after all of this excitement I am more nervous then I have ever been before. I tried real hard to stay calm and breath and relax.  I was holding my moms hand and looking at her trying not to think about it.  Then it happened the ringing in my ears started, I told them I am going to pass out now and they were like no your going to be ok.  Out I went!  Next thing I knew I had that awful smelling salt in my face and my eyes popped open real wide.  I felt strange, there was another nurse in the room now that wasn't there before.  She was talking to my mom, she had put some bracelet thing on me.  They were talking about my blood pressure.  The nurse told my mom, this is not good.  I can't let you leave until it comes back up. I guess it was real low, I asked my mom and she can't remember what it was.  Twenty minutes go by and I'm finally all the way with it after passing out for a second time!  We were able to go home.  I didn't feel well, which always happens after passing out so I went to lay on the couch and watch my favorite soap, One Life to Live.  We had been home just about 45 minutes when my phone rang, it was my doctors office.  I was freaking out there is no way this can be good since they are calling me back already.  I answered trying hard to breath and stay calm.  The nurse says hi this is so and so from Community Nurse and we have gotten your blood test results back and they are critical. Your platelet count is 11K and it is critical that you get to the hospital immediately. She asked if I had someone that could take me to the hospital and I said yes.  She said that they were calling the hospital to have a room ready for me so that I would not have to go thru the ER.  I was freaking out so bad, running thru the house gathering clothes and a book and anything else I think I would need if I was going to be in the hospital.  I called the school to make sure that there in deed was Action Math since it is Thursday the day before winter break starts.  I explained to the school secretary that I had to go to the hospital and I wanted to make sure because I could not get anyone to the house before 4.  They did have it and Caley would be taking the late bus home.  We then called Judy to see if she could pick David up from school for us and she said no problem.  I talked to Erin and she would be by for Caley around 4.  The nurse called back and said they couldn't figure it out fast enough so I should just go to the hospital and go thru the ER.

So mom & I were on our way to LaGrange Hospital and at about 75th and Willow Springs Road we get rear ended.  It wasn't that bad and neither mom or I were hurt.  I started laughing and then started crying.  I was hysterical!  I mean I don't even know whats wrong with me but whatever it is its critical.  Mom gets out and looks at the car its fine she tells the guy that we are on the way to the hospital, I think the guy had a heart attack!  She got his information and we were on our way.  We get to the ER and they all knew I was coming and put me in a room.  I realized that I had left my purse at home and it was ok because they already had all my info in the computer from earlier.  So in comes these two doctors which I have to mention were women and my mom thought that was really cool.  Dr. Harmony Ryan was one of them which I thought was pretty cool.  They did a whole run down of my life pretty much asking me anything and everything I have ever done. I was still so confused as to what was going on and why I was there, they weren't telling me anything.  The nurse came in a took more blood and started an IV.  I didn't pass out completely that time, but the ringing in my ears was there.  At one point my mom went out to go get something to eat and this doctor came in a guy that reminded me a bit of House.  He sits down and starts to explain to me what ITP is.  First of all its an an acronym for Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, which in normal English means low platelet disorder. OK well what does that even mean? He explains that the I, Idiopathic, means no known cause, basically that they have no clue why you have this disorder, or how to fix it for the matter.  The rest means that you are lacking in platelets which is what clots your blood.  Its not so bad as long as your not bleeding he says.  He also said that since my count was 11K that meant that it would not be safe for me to do anything because if I began to bleed I may not stop, therefore the critical mark.  He left and my mom came back and at first I thought maybe I was imagining all of this and that doctor was never there.  A guy came in to take me to have a chest xray done and then when he brought me back we did an EKG.  I never had that done before it was kind of interesting.  Sam came to see me she was worried, I'm not sure who I had called to tell them I had to go to the hospital but Colleen put it on facebook.  After she left dad came for a bit then we got a room ready for us.  I got brought up to my suite, I mean room, however it is kind of like a resort here at LaGrange Hospital.  My RN for the night was this super nice Asian man, he set me up in my room and the blood sucker, I mean phelbotomist came in and took my blood.  After that he came in and had a cup full of pills.  He said the doctor is starting you on Prednisone and protonix. It was getting late and I couldn't sleep, I decided to call Steve who I haven't talked to since Halloween.  He answered and was like wow its you and I was like yeah and guess what I'm at one of your favorite places to be, the hospital! And so the ride begins!