Thrombocytopenia

I’m not sure whether or not to congratulate myself on my mother’s intuition. I noticed that June had a lot of bruises last week – more than seemed normal, even for a fearless climber like June. We had just spent a weekend with cousins who loved “playing” with June, so we thought maybe June was just suffering from a little too much rowdiness. But after a few days I kept thinking about the bruising, which was all over her knees, legs, arms, elbows, and back. Thankfully Jarom’s health insurance started on Friday and I was able to take June into the doctor yesterday.

I love our pediatrician. He agreed that the bruises were concerning, and ordered a blood test. He thought it might be low platelet count, which can prevent clotting (and lead to extra bruises). Poor June did amazingly well, and luckily they only needed a tiny sample. The technician did a great job of doing everything quickly. It’s so nice when people realize how hard it is to control a frightened, injured child!

The doctor called when they got the results back and said that June does have a low platelet count (thrombocytopenia). A normal level is 150k+ and June’s was at 101k, which is low but not severe. He was concerned that she may have been lower during the past week, so next Monday we get to go back and have more blood drawn to make sure her levels are improving. In the meantime, I’m keeping an extra eye on June and trying to prevent any major accidents!

(The pediatrician was so helpful in letting me know that a major indicator of leukemia is when all blood cell levels are low, not just platelets, and June’s other levels are fine – so no worries there.)