i need some prayers for my sweet nephew mason = ( he has what they call itp and is in the hospital and has been since monday night...so if you could spare some it would be greatly appreciated.Thanks Brandy

By Brandy on Thursday, December 4, 2008 - 04:09 pm:

By Brandy on Thursday, December 4, 2008 - 04:13 pm:

he's the one with nick...

By Vicki on Thursday, December 4, 2008 - 05:18 pm:

My thoughts and prayers are with you.

My mother had this and passed away a few days after having her splenectomy from internal bleeding. Now, this was 21 years ago, so I am sure advances have been made since then.

By Emily7 on Thursday, December 4, 2008 - 05:27 pm:

Thoughts and prayers for your nephew and your family.

By Annie2 on Thursday, December 4, 2008 - 08:20 pm:

He'll be okay. Hugs and prayers for you and your family.

By Kaye on Thursday, December 4, 2008 - 10:39 pm:

I had this 4 years ago. They never figured out why, but it resolved itself on it's own. Best guess was some weird virus that worked backwards on me (typically your counts go way up). Anyway, I was very tired and not very okay, it was a very scary couple of weeks. I had a dr tell me she was pretty sure I had lymphoma and they were sending bloodwork to md anderson.

Prayers being sent. But wanted to give you a positive story too. Kids are funny and they have amazing healing powers.

By Brandy on Thursday, December 4, 2008 - 11:06 pm:

thanks everyone...

By Dawnk777 on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 12:01 am:

Ideopathic thromboctyopenia purpura?

ITP stands for idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. "Idiopathic" means that the cause of the condition is unknown. "Thrombocytopenic" means the blood doesn't have enough platelets (platelets are also called thrombocytes). "Purpura" means a person has excessive bruising. ITP is also called "immune thrombocytopenic purpura."

In people who have ITP, all of the blood cells are normal except for the platelets. Platelets are the tiny cells that seal minor cuts and wounds and form blood clots. A person who has too few platelets bruises very easily and can bleed for a long time after being injured. When the platelet count is very low, a person who has ITP might have nosebleeds that are hard to stop, might have bleeding in the intestines, or even bleeding in the brain with minor trauma.

From FamilyDoctor.org

Awww, poor little guy. Was he having some bruising? I'm not sure what they do to fix this.

By Brandy on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 07:21 am:

yes he fell onto something and it bruised him badly but he was having bruising before this and had already made a dr. appt for him and after they went and were waiting on the results they had to take him to the emergency room.

By Mom2three1968 on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 07:43 am:

Poor little fella!!! Prayers and (((HUGS)))

By Bobbie~moderatr on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 08:07 am:

Your whole family are in my thoughts.. Please keep us posted. Poor little fella. (((Brandy)))

By Kernkate on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 08:21 am:

Thoughts and prayers

By Brandy on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 10:06 am:

he's getting worse his count went down to 6,000 they are doing a bone marrow test on him... = (

By Bobbie~moderatr on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 11:11 am:

Oh Brandy... Prayers for the doctors.

By Bellajoe on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 02:13 pm:

That's so scary, i will pray for him ((HUGS))

By Brandy on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 02:24 pm:

they checked him for leukemia and he does NOT have it thank god = ) so they are giving him steroids to see if that will work.thanks again everyone = )

By Vicki on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 04:27 pm:

I don't know how much you have read online or anything, but I will share what all went on with my mom....

She started having very heavy periods and let that go on for a few months before going to the doctor about it. Once she finally went, they thought it was change of life stuff and scheduled her for a hysterectomy. When she went for her presurgery blood work is when they found the itp, so of course surgery was cancelled etc. She then started on steroids and that went up and down. They would give her a doseage to take, she would go in for blood work and they would increase it or decrease it trying to get the counts just right. This went on for over 2 years. One time her count would be good, the next time bad and so on. They just couldn't seem to get it under control and keep it there. So what they finally ended up deciding to do was pump her full of steroids, get the level good and take out her spleen. They did all that and right after the surgery everything seemed to be going ok. Honestly, I think they had her doing too much too soon and something inside from the surgery tore open or something because I was at the hospital in the evening and all was fine, they called us in the middle of the night to get there as fast as we could and she died within an hour of us getting there. They did do an autopsy, and we took it to an attorney and he said with the wording of it, there was really nothing that could be pursued. We did have a meeting with her doctor and he basically told us that it was pretty much all trial and error on the treatment. He made it sound like it was pretty new to the medical field and they really didn't know the best way to handle it all at that time. He did say that was all explained to my mom that everything was trial and error, but she never once told us all that. She never even told my dad........ I am sure it was to try to protect us from worry. He said they wanted to do the autopsy to learn more about the disease for future treatments....

I say all that not to make you worry, but to let you know that this was over 20 years ago and I am sure that great medical strides have been made since then.

I will keep him and your family in my thoughts and prayers.

By Emily7 on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 05:26 pm:

Again, your nephew is in my thoughts and prayers.

By Debbie on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 05:31 pm:

Oh Brandy, {{{HUGS}}}

I will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers

By Crystal915 on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 08:16 pm:

Lots of ((((HUGS)))) to you and your family. Keep us updated.

By Dawnk777 on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 08:31 pm:

Will be keeping your nephew in my prayers. {{{HUGS}}}

By Missymelissy on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 11:04 pm:

(((HUGS)))

By Brandy on Friday, December 5, 2008 - 11:53 pm:

thanks everyone i haven't heard anymore i'm sure they will check the counts again early in the morning and i will let you all know.

By Brandy on Saturday, December 6, 2008 - 11:11 am:

okay his counts are the highest that they have been they are 17,000...

By Bobbie~moderatr on Saturday, December 6, 2008 - 11:30 am:

Brandy, we are all thinking of him, and all of you. It is so heart breaking to hear of a child so ill. ~*~*~ Storming Heaven ~*~*~

By Annie2 on Saturday, December 6, 2008 - 12:41 pm:

Brandy, thinking of you and your family (((hugs)))

By Brandy on Saturday, December 6, 2008 - 02:43 pm:

thanks again = ) it looks like the prayers are working yay !

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, December 6, 2008 - 08:18 pm:

Thinking of you and your family, too.

By Karen~admin on Saturday, December 6, 2008 - 09:16 pm:

Brandy, I just saw this. When my kids were young (like 5'ish), my next door neighbor's son (same age group as Jeff and Jen) had this. He was on steroids for months, and maybe some other meds, but it resolved. They also tested him for luekemia. Many prayers for your precious nephew!

By Brandy on Sunday, December 7, 2008 - 09:29 am:

I'm so excited my nephew is going home !!!!!!!!!!! his counts are up to 37,000

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, December 7, 2008 - 12:26 pm:

Woohoo! I'm glad he's doing better!

By Enchens on Sunday, December 7, 2008 - 12:59 pm:

That's great news!

By Crystal915 on Sunday, December 7, 2008 - 01:20 pm:

I'm so glad he is doing better!!

By Annie2 on Sunday, December 7, 2008 - 04:00 pm:

Great news, Brandy!!!

By Emily7 on Sunday, December 7, 2008 - 04:40 pm:

That is wonderful news Brandy!

By Missymelissy on Sunday, December 7, 2008 - 09:45 pm:

Great news.

By Missymelissy on Sunday, December 7, 2008 - 09:45 pm:

Great news.

By Brandy on Monday, December 8, 2008 - 05:16 pm:

his counts are up to 86,000 today yay !!

By Kateg on Monday, December 8, 2008 - 10:54 pm:

Great news!!! My DH was diagnosed with ITP 21 years ago, underwent a splenectomy (however you spell it) and is a survivor. His stories of that time are heart-wrenching, but with great doctors and a wonderful family he is here today a happy husband and father of 2 great kids. His body is here, not the healthiest person on the planet, but he is here & we cherish each and every day as a gift. Our thoughts and prayers are with that little guy and his family. {{{HUGS}}}

By Mrsheidi on Monday, December 8, 2008 - 11:22 pm:

So glad to hear!

By Dramamamma on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 12:24 am:

So happy to hear he is doing so well!

By Brandy on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 08:26 am:

thanks everyone i'm so excited! yay

By Cat on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 08:40 am:

Great news, Brandy! Hugs to all of you.

By Pamt on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 01:55 pm:

Great news!

By Crystal915 on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 02:39 pm:

Awesome news!!