Been a long time--update on Holden and Nplate

Hi everyone,

I haven't been active on this site in a pretty long time, so I thought I would drop in and give a quick update. My son, Holden, who is 10 has had ITP since he was 2. He has been receiving weekly injections of Nplate for over 2 years now, and while it hasn't cured him, and it doesn't keep his counts in the normal range, it has made him much safer! Without Nplate, he was almost always in the range of 3K - 7K. Since he has been on Nplate, his normal range is about 17K - 70K.

The best of all is that Decadron, which had not helped his counts at all when he wasn't on Nplate, now helps him. So we now know that if he needs to fly in an airplane, or if he has a big fencing tournament coming up, we can always give him 4 days of Decadron, and his platelet count will go up over 100K for about a week. We never had anything that had worked before, so that is a huge relief to know that we have something that can work when we need it.

I am incredibly grateful that we have Nplate, and that he hasn't shown any side effects, and that I have good health insurance that covers this expensive drug.

I wish all of the best for all of you, and hope that you find things that work to keep your children healthy!

Warm wishes and platelets for all,

Sheryl