That Method Didn't Work, So What Do We Do Now?

Back in May and June, I shared with everyone the details of Robert's diagnosis of  Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura. This is an issue where his body is attacking his platelet count and causing it to drop over time. Since your platelets are what help your blood to clot, they are kind of important.

When he was given the diagnosis, the doctor put him on a daily dose of Prednisone. So, for those of you who may have thought it was putting on weight because of his puffy chipmunk like cheeks, it was because of the medication. He had to have blood work done just about every week to see if it was increasing his count. In the beginning, it was. After just a couple of weeks, his count increased greatly. We were ecstatic. The medicine was doing its job. But, then his count started to drop again. The doctor said it is not uncommon for a dip every now and then. It will usually spike back up again. Only his hasn't. While it is not nearly as low as it was when he was first diagnosed, it is still low. 

So, the doctor wants to try a new approach. He wants to do an infusion similar to what they do for many leukemia patients that have low platelet counts. This will mean he has to spend anywhere from 4 - 6 hours a day, once a week in a chair with an iv in his arm to pump the medicine in him. This is a fairly new treatment for ITP and has been shown to have great results. We certainly pray it works on Robert. If not, the next step is to remove the spleen.

The doctor assures me that having his spleen removed is no big deal, but I don't see it that way. Your spleen helps produce your white blood cells. Your white blood cells help fight infections. So, you are at greater risk for developing many infections. Throw in a disease that can cause you to choke, causing fluid to collect in your lungs and put you at a higher risk for pneumonia, it can be an issue. I want to keep my husband around for as long as possible. I don't want to add more complications to the disease that I know will one day take him from me. 

Plus, the recovery time from this surgery can be lengthy and difficult. There is usually a lot of pain and discomfort as well as risks that are associated. For now, all we can do is pray that the infusion treatments do the trick. He will start them in a couple of weeks and I will keep everyone posted on the progress of them.