Finally - GREAT news!

I had a platelet count today along with a bleeding time test in preparation for my carpal tunnel surgery on July 15. The bleeding test didn't go so well...16 minutes to stop after being given a small cut in my arm, when normally it should have been 10 minutes. I was worried, and awaiting a call from the hospital on my home answering machine telling me that my platelet count was too low, that I could die, not to do anything, go to an ER, etc.

So my dad works with the surgeon who is performing the surgery, and he was sent the platelet count and bleeding test results. My dad had told him about the bleeding test (because I asked him to), and he was concerned. However, my platelet count came back at 190,000. Not 19,000...which is my usual "range". 190,000. The surgeon thought they made a mistake and asked them to run it again, which they did, and that test came out at 194,000. Normal is 150,000...I AM NORMAL!!!

Because of the anti-inflammatory meds I'm taking for pain the surgeon concluded that was the reason for the poor results of the bleeding test. But given my platelets are normal, I'm set to go for surgery.

I haven't had much good news to share on this blog, so I had to share this. I have felt for some time that my symptoms are not what they were before the surgery. I have felt like I've been left with a lot of joint damage and suffering from pain as a result, especially in my hips, knees and ankles and feet. I was frustrated at my low platelet count, but the last one I had was in April about two months after they removed the last of the nickel from my system. It was around 20,000 then, I believe. Now it's been over four months since the nickel removal, and I have a normal count again. And I'm just shocked.

I wouldn't be surprised if I go in for another test at some point and it's low again, but for today I have a normal count. I haven't been above 150,000 since 2007 or possibly earlier than that. When I had my 2nd surgery in 2007 my platelets were at 110,000; a year later they were the same, but then took a nose-dive in the months following. Since November my highest count - without steroids or a transfusion - was 36,000. I've usually been lower than 20,000, and have been as low as 9,000. To go up 180,000 platelets in about four and a half months time is just awesome. I am so very, very happy right now.

It's a small victory today. I still hurt horribly, but I have platelets. At least for today, in my mind, I feel like what I had assumed for several years really was the truth - the metal allergy caused my downfall in health. I was brushed off, laughed at, ignored and made to feel like an idiot and a liar by doctors and nurses. But blood tests don't lie, and today is a victory for me, and one step towards proving that I was right. I hope there are more tests like this to follow. If this is the case, I think there are several people out there who have similar symptoms like me with no diagnosis; this could be their ticket to a normal life. But to prove the case you need test results to back it up, and now I have one in my favor.