Ask HN: Google workers, sister is visiting S.J. Can she tour the Googleplex?
This is part of her journey, she wrote this to share her story...Cliches of cliches; you don’t know what you have until its gone. Most people take their health for granted, something you wont do after this story.January 27, 2012. A rash started to present itself all over her body, not a bothersome one. The rash appeared to be like tiny purple freckles, something the patient referred to as Dalmatian spots. She had other symptoms as well feeling lightheaded every time she stood, bleeding gums, and a very pale look. Unbeknownst to her all these symptoms were related. A doctors appointment had been made. Her doctor unsure of what the rash was, ordered a blood test.January 28, 2012. Five in the morning, the telephone rings, her doctor is on the other line their is a sound of urgency in his voice. The results from the blood test are back, her platelet levels are extremely low. A foreign term to her and her family. The doctor had ordered for her to go immediately to an emergency room. He suspects some sort of blood transfusion will be necessary.January 28, 2012. Three o'clock in the afternoon, she is already registered as a patient in the hospital. The low levels of platelets is so dangerous that internal bleeding is a very imminent possibility as well as bleeding in the brain. The young woman and family unaware of how big of a problem this was.Just in time, the doctor walks in to explain what platelets are.“The functions of platelets are related to the clotting of blood. Because of their adhesion and aggregation capabilities platelets can occlude small breaks in blood vessels and prevent the escape of blood.”In simple terms they are what help clot the blood.“ An average number is between 200,000 - 250,000, this particular patient has 2,000 platelets.”Obviously very low and very dangerous. Its explained that a blood transfusion will not be necessary, only a transfusion of platelets. Half an hour later, one Benadryl (to avoid an allergic reaction), one Zantac (to avoid ulcers), and one IV later the transfusion is done.January 28, 2012. Later that night another blood test is ordered, to see how much the transfusion helped. The results, 5,000 platelets. Nothing more can be done today. The young woman and family optimistic that this problem will soon be resolved. Optimism something that goes against the nature of the patient. Little do they know that what they experienced today will be their lives for the next month and a half.February 11, 2012. Exactly two weeks after the patient was admitted to the hospital, she is being discharged. Two very long, very painful and very stressful weeks. No progress has been made on trying to combat this disease, this ITP. During those two weeks, a bone marrow biopsy was done. A bone marrow biopsy that includes cutting a hole in the hip bone, and getting to center of the bone and extracting a sample of the sponge like tissue. A painful procedure that had to be done to evaluate the production of blood cells, more specifically platelets. A couple of hours later the doctor had the results, her bone marrow which is what produces platelets and other blood components. The bone marrow was so suppressed from the medicine she had been religiously taking for the past 18 months, that her body has stopped producing platelets altogether. Backtrack, the medicine she had been taking, was to kill the brain tumor she has lived with all of her life. This medicine, this form of chemotherapy has these type of side effects, but the patient was unaware of such drastic repercussions. The patient was trying to fix one problem when another arises. Prognosis, “The bone marrow will start to heal itself once the chemo is completely gone from her body.”“That should happen in about 14 days, no special precautions are needed” thats all the hematologist has to say. The patient has no reason to doubt him, he is one of the best doctors in the hospital the patient was told.February 12, 2012. Home sweet home, or so she thought. She still was experiencing the same symptoms as before, lightheaded ness, bleeding gums, and exhaustion.February 13, 2012. Bright an early, her primary care doctor calls again. The patient is told that she already has an appointment to see another hematologist. According to him this problem is not just going to go away without some sort of intervention. Another blood test is ordered, the patient is used to being pricked more than once a day. Bad results, 3,000 platelets another transfusion is ordered. This process has become the patients daily routine, and it will be her routine for the next month.31 days later, 3 different medicines, a permanent IV, and an allergic reaction later, surgery to remove her spleen is ordered. Her spleen because thats where the platelets are being massacred, a word the patient used. The patient was being put thru hell and back, you could see that life wasn’t present in her body anymore, she was going thru the motions of this disease. She was going thru the motions arm and arm with her mother, although it seems that this disease had hurt her more. The patient felt like she was nearing the end of the road. She had little faith that this surgery would work.March 20, 2012. A sleepless night, she has been waiting for two blood transfusions. As of five o’clock in the morning they hadn’t arrived. The transfusions were to be given to reduce the risk of excessive bleeding during the surgery. The time has come, she says good-bye to her parents and brother. The emotions are overwhelming that the four of them crying out of fear because of the risky surgery. She enters the operating room, a bright room, everything is white. The patient says to herself that the room looks nothing like the medical television show House. She is put on the operating table, the anesthesia is starting to take effect. She feels as if her body is sinking into the table, as if she were becoming one with the table.March 20, 2012. Three o’clock in the afternoon, she slowly starts to open her eyes. She is in an Intensive Care Unit room, where she will spend the next three days. The first image she sees is the image of her younger cousin staring at with fear and sorrow. She is connected to many machines, that all she hears is beeping and buzzing. The patient has a tube going down her nose into her stomach to suction all the remaining blood, a very painful process. She is hooked up to an IV narcotic machine to minimize the pain. Being the fighter she is, the nurses would have to give her the medicine because she did not like taking it. Once left alone with her brother, her parents left to go to the cafeteria. She tells her brother with tears in her eyes and her voice shaking, that she is sorry for not being strong enough. Her brother trying to ease her pain, tells her that she is the strongest and bravest person he knows. Or something to that extent, the medicine was putting her back to sleep. Although the pain would wake her up soon enough.The moment had come time to hear the results of the blood tests post surgery. Two hundred and fourteen thousand platelets, normal. A sigh of relief, the family is very pleased to hear those types of results. The excitement was short lived because for the next three days those levels would continue to drop.March 25, 2012. Discharge day, a great day. The patient is discharged but with no pain killers, although she is still in pain. She is a firm believer in that what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger. The four of them would finally get to go home and sleep. She has told the rest of her family that she would like the day off, no visitors, she would like to rest. They have some trepidation about what the next few days will bring.March 26, 2012. First doctors visit since the surgery. The routine is slowly coming back, blood test, results 17,000 platelets. Something new, instead of a transfusion a medicine is going to be given, a medicine they had already tried. The medicine is given to start and activate the bone marrow into producing platelets. Fast forward to another week of the same thing.April 7, 2012. A Saturday, there is only one nurse in charge on the weekends. Again the routine, blood test and wait for the results. Although nobody was expecting the results to be so good, 50,000 platelets. Not normal yet but the fact that her body was no longer killing the platelets and starting to produce them, was a great achievement. The news was so overwhelming that the nurse and her mother were tearing up. A milestone had been reached. Now keep in mind this did not mean the problem was solved. This just meant that the combination of medicine and removing the spleen was working. The patient would not reach remission until August, a couple months later. This was a step in the right direction after so many steps backwards.The journey wasn’t over though, she now had to start and live a “normal” life. The patient had no idea what that meant because for the couple of years she had solely focused on trying to get healthy. She had been trying to reach remission for the brain tumor as well. That in it of it self was a big problem because since the tumor was active, she was struck with symptoms of a stroke. Some of them were weakness on side of her body, balance and coordination problems. Which meant she could no longer walk on her own or do anything on her own. That slowly was getting better as well. The patient was still left with pieces of the puzzle she didn’t know how to put back together in her life.