For the past few months, I've been having trouble with my periods. Seriously heavy and disgusting. It finally starting catching up to me, to the point where I took myself to the ER where I work with what I was sure was the beginnings of anemia. They agreed with me, called my ob-gyn, started getting things ready for what I think is called an I + D, basically scraping out and cauterizing the lining of my uterus. But then my blood results came back.

I wasn't only dangerously anemic, I had a platelet count of 6000. To put that in perspective, a normal platelet count is anywhere from 150,000 to 400,000.

Originally they wanted to admit me to my hospital. But there were still some things about my blood results that weren't pointing in the right direction. So they transferred me to where I've been all week, a trauma center about 30 miles away. Two transfusions of blood, three transfusions of platelets, and more needles in me than I've ever seen pointed in my direction combined at any point in my life...yeah, it's been a grumpy week. My only saving grace was when the doctors finally confessed I was not going to be going home quickly, my parents brought me my gaming laptop. World of Warcraft has officially saved my sanity.

I had bunches of blood tests done, and a full-body CT scan to make sure I'm not spontaneously bleeding anywhere. They didn't find any bleeding. They found small lung nodules. A secondary finding, but of course that freaked out the doctors even more. Hematology started arguing with pulmonology about the need to get a biopsy done, but they couldn't risk such a delicate procedure with my platelets so low. So they had to find out the cause of the platelets first. Which meant a bone marrow biopsy. Which involved me being knocked for a loop while they drilled a needle into one of my pelvic bones. Didn't hurt, amazingly. And I barely remember anything about it. No nausea, which is a first for my experience with anesthesia.

The bone marrow biopsy gave me my diagnosis. Idiopathic thrombocytopenic pupura, or ITP. A fairly common autoimmune issue where my platelets are somehow marked for destruction the instant they are made and swallowed up by my spleen. First line of treatment is steroids and immunoglobulins to protect my platelets. But if that stops working, then my spleen will have to be removed.

For now, it seems as though I don't have to face any major surgery any time soon. The treatments are making my platelet counts go up on their own, but tonight is the big test. I haven't had any medicines or steroids all day. If my platelet count goes up from its current 44,000, I get to go home tomorrow and follow up outpatient. If not, then my spleen has to go, and I'm stuck here for another week or so. The pulmonologists seem to be calmed down now. They decided the nodules are too small to be really worried about. There is only one that's a candidate for biopsy right now anyway, and its in a place that would require something invasive to retrieve. Most of the doctors think it's just scar tissue, because every other test they ran for tumor indicators came back completely negative.

Right now, I have my fingers crossed to go home. I am getting tired of lying here, separated from my animals and my normal routine. Wish me luck!