2 year old Daughter Diagnosed two days ago!

Hi....I'm new to this....my daughter was diagnosed with ITP this past Thursday night...after picking her up from day care, I noticed black dots all over her and really bad bruising. I had noticed the bruising for the last two weeks but considered it normal 2 year year old behavior.....little did I know. After a scare that it was leukemia, her white blood cell count is normal. However, her platelet level was 4,000. They treated her with WinRho.....which she reacted to by having a fever. First blood test after WinRho revealed that her levels were still 4,000. The second blood test showed that her levels went up to 15,000.

I'm writing this to ask...what am I in for? What is the rest of her life going to be like? Does this ever end? Will I be taking her for blood tests forever?

Please....I need some help here....the doctors seemed so hopeful that it this is a "one time thing" but after reading about it on the blogs and on websites...it doesn't seem to be the case. I'm in dire need of some truth. Please HELP!

Hi Chrissy

Your daughter's doctors are right in that, for most children and especially at the age of 2, ITP is a short-lived problem that never comes back. However, for a few children, it stays for longer or reappears intermittently. There is probably no way of knowing which group your daugher is in. My son was diagnosed nearly 2 years ago, and said from the start that he felt "unlucky" about ITP, but he was a lot older at 10 years old.

Even if it does last, ITP improves for a lot of children and is a condition that most can live very normal lives with. My son's haematologist says that if you have to have a blood issue, ITP is probably the one he would choose! In the UK and some of Europe, doctors rarely treat ITP in children unless there are bleeding issues. I hate the blood tests thing myself, but in the unlikely event that your daughter does continue to have ITP, then you will probably space them out a lot more.

I hope it disappears really quickly for you and never comes back!!!!! Fingers crossed.

Ali

Hello Chrissy
I too am a Krissy:-)
I'm so sorry you are having to deal with this with your daughter but like Ali said there is a VERY good chance that her case is an Acute case and will resolve. I believe the statistics say 80% of Kiddo's with ITP are ACUTE and will resolve within 6 months to a year.
I know it is terrifying in the beginning, and taking your baby for a blood draw's breaks your heart. Our experience with WinRho was that it took 5 days before we saw a significant rise in Kayla's count.
I will be praying for lots of platelets for your baby, and some peace for you.
You found a good place to ask, and vent:-)
Thinking lots of platelets
Krissy

Very well said, ladies! Chrissy, they are both correct. 80% of the time, ITP is acute for children. It usually occurs after a viral or bacterial infection.

Win-Rho does take a few days to reach it's peak, so don't expect higher counts right away. For some, it doesn't work at all. In that case, the doctors usually move on to other treatments. Win-Rho is usually one of the easiest for most to tolerate.

Don't worry about how this will affect the rest of her life just yet. Concentrate on now. Chances are, your daughter will remit and ITP will just be a bad memory. If it does happen to hang around, you'll learn to deal with it and it will become routine. Not fun, but do-able.

I agree with all of you! My son was diagnosed at 18 months and it was really bad for a month or 2. We too were afraid of Lukemia but found out like you that his other counts were fine so that wasn't the case. We did a lot of testing to be sure, we did bone marrow and a full DNA test ut that's only because of something that happend with my older son so they were just being over thorough. We did blook work every other day to start which was rotten since my husband and I both work full time and we always had to wait for results before we left, then we went to weekly and by the time he was 2 we went to yearly, he is now almost 6 and you'd never know he had anything aside form the occasional bout of Petechia. My husband has it as well and we didn't even know until he was 32 when my son was diagnosed.

Good luck
Shelley

Hey...hi..hope your daughter will fine n she has been recovered from the ITP.
I have a 2.5 years old son and he is suffering the cornic IPT from last 9 months. But, he has not yet recovered properly. His platelet between the 9 months period still below 10k. we have try IVIg, Anti-D and other stiroid. But still remian same his platelet count.

Could you please helps us on my son treatment or suggest if any...

we look forward hear from you.

Hi Chrissy,
My 4.5 year old was recently diagnosed with ITP. Well, lets see... it has now been 11 weeks. I had the same exact questions, fears, and feelings as what you are describing.
I'm not going to lie, I still have some of the same questions and fears today. We've been doing weekly blood tests (sometimes more) for the past 11 weeks. I don't want to say it gets easier, but it does become part of your normal routine.
I'm glad you found this site. Reading other people's experiences with ITP has helped me. I don't feel so alone, and I know that Ryan can have a normal life even with ITP. Some days are harder than others though.