Danica's count has almost doubled

Even though the Decadron is not letting Danica sleep, and her cheeks are brilliant red, and she is always warm, and she is a little grumpy (although she is controlling her temper very well), she has petechia, and some bruising, and she complains of some stomach pain, - her count was 145 today. I could not believe it. Wow - she is only half way through the Decadron, and already we see a count like this.

Her ultrasound was good, the spleen hasn't really enlarged since the scan in August. Her spleen is a little large, but not anything near abnormal, which is great.

I will check her again on Friday. Her white cell count jumped from less than 4 on Monday to almost 10 today, but that is from the Decadron.

Oh, I am so happy about her count today, and a girl that I work with has a little guy that has low hemogloblin, and just had a transfusion last week. His count today was 119, and he has never been that high. What a day to celebrate

Michelle

What fantastic news!!!!!!!! I get mine checked MOnday. I hope Danica is the begining of great readings for all of us!!!!!! Yes, a day to celebrate!!!!!!! GREAT NEWS!!!!

Wow, that's great news that it is working!! I hope the side effects subside soon though! I hope she gets to enjoy something super exciting while her platelets are high!

That is fantastic news, very happy for you, my count is also up today, mine are 69 after only two weeks of Nplate.

That's awsome. How are you going to celebrate?

Not sure how we will celebrate. Danica is not in much of a mood for celebration. Her count was 168 today, which is up another 23 from Wednesday, but the Decadron has made her feel horrible. She took her last 5 pills this morning, so I hope that the effects of it will wear off and she will feel better.

I did give her a sleeping pill last night to help her sleep. She is suriving on very little sleep, and she has had stomach pains that past two nights and today. Again, I hope that it will also get better now that she is finished with the Decadron.

This high count is so wonderful, but it sure came at a significant price. This has been a very rough week on her. I almost died when i went into her room this morning. She was sleeping with the window open because she is so hot. It was very cold in there!!!

I am not sure when I will check her blood again, but I am thinking that it might be a good idea to check it on Monday, just to see whether the count holds, or drops after stopping the Decadron.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that they are still up, and that she feels better soon.

Michelle

Poor Danica - sounds horrible stuff. I hope she feels a lot better now she is off it, and also that the withdrawal period isn't too bad.

I've just been reading some of the other posts (been away for a couple of days on a course for work) and I think you lot have achieved a first. Judging by the state of Dougies legs, I'd say that his count is under 30, so that means that Danica, Caitlin and Tim all have a better count than him this week. Gotta be worth celebrating - well done all of you!!!!!!


Ali

Ali - too bad that Dougie is having symptoms.

Danica is finally feeling better today (Sunday). She had a REALLY GOOD sleep last night.

I think that I will for sure check her blood tomorrow, because I am interested to see if the count is holdingnow that she is off the Decadron.

I wonder how high the count would have gone if she were only about 25 when we started. She was at 77, so that made a big difference.

She is not looking forward to the next round of Decadron.

She is still complaining of neck pain, but hopefully that will get better also. Her stomach is good now, and she is so much happier now that she had a good rest.

She still has a horrible cough, but I figure that is from the Decadron.

Michelle

Hi Michelle

That stuff sounds HORRIBLE!!! I've read on the adults board about people taking it with awful side effects. It says a whole lot about Danica's character that she will do it , cos I don't think Dougie would. I feel so grateful that he hasn't really needed treating up to now. I really really hope that it works to keep Danicas counts up between treatments.

I am not sure about Dougie today. He has loads of petechiae on his legs and his chest, and a sort of bruise that I haven't seen for ages and ages - starts off small and red, and gradually gets much bigger over a couple of days presumably because it keeps on bleeding under the skin. His legs just look dirty again, mainly because he has all this blueish bruising under his skin. We still let him play footie today though (just banned him from heading the ball), and he is really pleased with himself because he scored two goals - made his week I think!

His next appointment isn't until mid April and I was going to try to stay away from hospitals until then. But today he has asked me if he can get a test at the end of this week so that he can go to Alton Towers (roller coaster park) in the school holidays. I had forgotten all about this - last summer we went with some friends and Dougie couldn't come because the doctor said it wasn't safe unless his count was over 80. So I said I would take him this year - BIG mistake because it never occurred to me that ITP would still be an issue a year on! So, if the symptoms that he's had for the last two weeks disappear I might take him for a count Friday. He's typically had really good counts after a dip in the last few months so you never know - might be forced onto a rollercoaster next weekend!!! :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Keeping my fingers crossed for Danica when you test her again.

Good luck, Ali

i hope danica and dougie are both doing better today!