I had my laparoscopic. splenectomy

Hello everyone
I had a splenectomy last Thursday, April 1st. If anyone can remember me from the other board I was refractory to most treatments .. prednisone, imuran, promacta,danaxol, rituxan, etc.
NPlate helped but the results were marginal. IVIG helped the most but the lasting results were short lived. Well anyway I decided to go for the splenectomy. I am a young senior and know the odds are not the greatest but after two years with ITP I was ready. Pre-op was Friday, March 26. Platelets were 19K. I had an IVIG infusion the following Monday before the surgery to get the platelets up. The day of the surgery the platelets were 108k.

I went to the hospital at 8:00, given a blood test, sent to pre op room where I met with the doctor who was going to administer the anesthesia. He explained what he was going to do, then my surgeon appeared and he told me what he was going to do. He was very reassuring and I felt confident in his ability. I was given IV and the next thing I remember was waking up in the recovery room. The surgeon said I did great and I could go home the same day. Wow I did not expect that.

I have to say the pain I endured has not been too bad. The first two days was the worst as far as discomfort was concerned but every day I am feeling stronger.
I saw my hematologist today and my platelets were 671k. We are both happy. I know this is a crazy disorder so I am keeping my fingers crossed. Will keep you posted.

Forgot to mention the doctor said I had an accessory spleen which he removed.

Good luck to you - keep us posted!

im so happy, congratulation, keep update us, my son will do the operation next month,i keep praying for him

Speedy recovery and High Platelets Rere

rere , how long the operation took, dr told my son the operation takes around 1 hour and half, are you under any pain killer, which state in the us, i live in los angeles

Hi Farida,
The operation took about 90 minutes. I was given prescribed pain killers, but I did not take any. I took two 8 hour Tylenol the first three days after surgery every six/eight hours for the pain. Yesterday and today only two Tylenol. I live in a surburb of New York City. All and all the surgery and recovery is going better than anticipated. I am so fortunate. Best wishes to your son.

thank you rere for your wishes, i used to read your post on the old fourm , i'm so happy for you , please keep update us,

Today is one week after the splenectomy. I am feeling well not a barrel of energy but up to going to the supermarket for light shopping. Pain is almost gone only a little tenderness at the incision site.
I did have a meltdown moment. I woke up this morning and saw a bruise on the underside of my wrist. I said OMG what is this. Did I just bruise or was it there before and I didn't notice. Although my platelets were 671k on Tuesday I felt what if they crashed. I called my hematologist's office and they said to come in for a CBC to alay my concern. My platelets were 714k so my worry was needless. I guess living with this disorder and the ups and downs we experience is a fear hard to let go of.

are you taking medicen to make your platelts in the normal range , is this count in normal count?

Rere, maybe this is going to stick!!!!! I think there is so much positive right now, so many of us are doing this and so far so good. Mine is at the end of the month after 6 yrs of not getting any remission. I'm so glad it went well and you're doing good. I've told myself that even if I don't get normal counts maybe they'll be much better than I've had and if I could have a few years of not worrying, that would be so appreciated.

Wishing you a lifetime of normal. Keep updating.

I am not taking any medication for the high platelets. My surgeon advised that after the spleen was removed my platelets could go to 1 million or above. I had an office visit with my hematologist on Tuesday when the count was 617k and he did not express any concern. My hematologist was not in his office yesterday when I had the CBC showing the platelets up to 716k. I will call him today and ask if I need to take any meds.
Today the discomfort at the incision site is so mild. It is amazing one week after surgery to feel almost back to normal.

Tortie,
Good luck with your splenectomy the end of the month. Please keep us informed as you know we all root for each other on this board.
I was very scared to go for the surgery and actually it was cancelled twice in 2009. Once by the surgeon who had a conflict in his schedule and the second time in November 2009 by me feeling so ambivalent. What made me decide was seeing another hematologist for a third opinion. Dr. Allen gave me the best physical exam ever.. from head to toe. After reviewing my history with ITP, he recommended the surgery. For some reason something clicked and I decided to go for it. I felt if I had the surgery and it was not successful at least I tried everything. Who knows maybe what did not work before would work now that I had my spleen removed.

Update

This coming Thursday will be three weeks post surgery. I had my CBC today. Platelets were 151k today. Count last week was 370k and right after the surgery count was over 700k. I am hoping (and praying) counts will stabilize around this level. I went back to work Monday and am feeling pretty good.

I'm rooting for you, 150k would be fantabulous!!!!!

Yes it would be great. For the last two years I have generally been in the under 10k club. Only those who have been there know the stress and anxiety of those weekly CBC's.

Three weeks today since my splenectomy too! Feeling almost normal...even better actually. All pain is gone, scars are healing very nicely, and just trying to build up my stamina and appetite are left. I've lost 18 pounds now with the lack of appetite and the walking I've been doing everyday. My platelets were 829,000 last week but as my hemotologist was not concerned I decided to give myself a break from worrying about it and am waiting till my May 4th visit to get them checked again. I am taking a low dose of aspirin daily just for peace of mind really...my doctor has absolutely no concerns about my platelets and reassures me they will settle down soon.

rere, I'm finally doing the splenectomy for that reason. I'm tired of watching for problems, weekly CBC's, IV's every 2-3 wks. I`m hoping this will give us a break from that. I`ll be happy if I could have a few years of decent counts. My idea of decent is anything above 30k for long term.

Fran, I`m glad you have such good counts, If anything, it means you have lots of extras. It`s good that you`re taking the asprin, I would too. In time the counts will get better.
Were you wanting to lose weight.

Tortie...weight loss is a true blessing for me. I've been really sluggish and non-active due to my last three years of dexamethasone treatments and withdrawls. I probably gained 30 pounds in the three years and now that I'm off the meds and feeling lots more energy I am realy happy about dropping those extra pounds. I feel better than I have felt in years.

Fran, It took me a long time to lose my 30lbs of pred weight. I had to push myself really hard to shed more than 5 lbs. So far it's not coming back easy. Maybe my metabolism is back to normal. I still crave those carbs though.

So I know how you feel about losing some. Life might just get better!!!!

my son had the surgery yesterday , it went fine , his count was 101k after 3 days of solymedrol , his count is 157k today, i don't now is this mean he did not respond to the splenecomy or it could be up after another day

157k is in the normal range. Try not to worry and make yourself sick. We are all rooting for both of you.

thank you so much rere for your support, we back home , everyone unhappy specialy him, he deppresed the nurse try to make he smill but she couldn't ,we will do another cbc on monday i still has a hope ,

Way to soon to give us hope. I get a feeling you will get good news on Monday.

thank you for your answer , you make me calme ,im so tired ,but i can't sleep ,so much in my minde, my son looks sad more than sike frome the operation, i think if his count was heigh he could play a basketball , dosn't matter how he is feeling ,when he was on the pre op told me no more restrict , i just smilled , he was optomastic more than me ,

I would love to have a count of 157! Your son has nothing to be depressed about. I hope his counts stay up and even go higher.

thank you cindyl for your answer

i knew that 157k is good count if he could keep this number,but i know as the doctor told me his cout should jump up ,which it did happened,he still on the affect of the ctroide , he had three days of cteroide befor the operation,

Tuesday will be a month since my surgery. I feel really good. Stamina is almost back to normal but appetite is still much smaller than before. I'm out walking a lot and back to all my normal activities. Life is good! I return to my hemotologist on May 4th to check in and see if my platelet are settling into a normal range.

Right on Fran!

I'm getting cold feet, nervous, anxious......Friday is too soon.

Hi Tortie,
I know how you feel. I was reluctant to get my spleen removed. I agonized for many months. It is not an easy decision because we do not know if the splenectomy will give us the remission we desperately want.
Keep a positive attitude and have faith in your surgeon.