It all started on December 14, 2019. We were on our way down
to see my sister but slept over halfway on our trip at my cousin’s place. We
had a great dinner, a few beers and a good night’s sleep. In the morning, I
took a shower and noticed a large bruise on my left bicep.
Now you would think that a person who has had TTP four times would have said, oh-oh, TTP again, but I didn’t. I assumed that I had bruised it from a workout in the gym on Friday morning. I had no other symptoms. I felt good. No headaches or stomach aches. No other bruising, no petechia. As a result, we went about our day and completed the trip to see my sister and her family. Fooled again.
The wonderful reason we went to see my sister was to hear her sing in a Christmas choir. It also gave us a chance to drop off some Christmas presents and to celebrate her birthday. We were only there for a day, but it was great to make the trip and catch up. Presence is a present.
I was still semi-recovering from TTP#4 from March 2019, so was still checking my blood on a regular basis and Monday, December 16 was the next date. So around 9 AM, I stopped at Dynacare for a blood check. At 6:20 PM, I received a call from a hematologist at the Ottawa Hospital. TTP was back, platelets were at 14, pack it up, get to the hospital, we are doing plasmapheresis tonight.
Not only was I upset about TTP, but we were close to Christmas. I didn’t want to be the guy that messed up Christmas. My youngest son and girlfriend were coming for Christmas. My oldest son and fiancée were coming for News Year’s. I really hoped this would work out.
From 16 to 24 December, I had plasmapheresis 9 times. My platelets went from a low of 9 up to 136 on Christmas Eve. I was doing so well that I was moved to out-patient status on December 20 and was able to celebrate with Christmas and Boxing Day off – no plasmapheresis. On December 27, my platelets had dropped to 20 and I was re-admitted to the hospital - it felt like we were staring all over again. My platelets did climb, and I was again an outpatient on New Year’s Eve. I had plasmapheresis 15 more times with the last one on January 15, 2020.
So, let’s think back to December 14, I had a bruise, what were my options? Well, I’m thinking 1) keep going to see my sister, 2) think that I have TTP and head to the Ottawa General (my wife’s choice) or 3) go and have the blood checked at Dynacare where I have an open requisition. With a map lookup, I can see that a Dynacare was only 16 km away which was open on Saturdays. It was really an option. Either way, options 2 and 3 would have seen treatment started two days earlier, but then I wouldn’t have visited my sister or seen her sing in the choir. Choices …
So, where did the bruise come from. I was in the gym the morning of December 16 and asked my personal trainer how I got the bruise and he said, not from the exercises you did. So how? I didn’t figure it out for a few weeks, when I was sitting in a chair with a what I think they call a Windsor back. Apparently, when I am sitting in this type of chair, I sometimes rest my left arm over the top rail of the chair. I bet that having those couple of beers with my cousin caused that bruise.
Next time I get the bruise there will only be two options – blood check or hospital …
Thanks, Bruce
@BruceFightsTTP
