Emm is 6 she was diagnosed with ITP on April 21.
I am a Clinical Laboratory Scientist. I did my senior thesis project on ITP. When Emma woke up in April 22, she had petechaie near her eye. I worried all day. Even told my friend Gina that I was a hypochondriac because I was worried that my kid had ITP. She had been bitten by a tick about a week prior, and had felt bad that Wednesday (April 19), but no other illness or symptoms.
They called me from school around 4 because she had fallen and the bruise on her arm that resulted was instantaneous and large. I knew what it was. I picked her up and went to her pediatrician, where I discovered her legs were a mess and a bruise on her hip that was ghastly. Her platelet count was 2.
So, we went to Children's. A redraw CBC showed plt at 4, slight anemia, and slight leukocytosis. (Increase WBC is viral). She received IVIg that night. The next day, her plt went up to 11, then 24. We were sent home.
A follow up Monday showed a plt of 82. That Friday, April 29, I noticed two what I call "spontaneous" bruises (in strange places, faint, no explanation) and petechiae in her mouth. I called the on-call hemo and took her for a CBC on Saturday. Plt count 56. By that Thursday, she was down to 10 and received another IVIg.
May 9 her count was 153. At follow up on May 16, her count was 66. May 19, her count was 39. All anemia and leukocytosis has resolved.
We go back tomorrow for a recheck and likely IVIg.
I am exhausted and so is she. Please tell me there is light at the end of this tunnel.
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