I’m high

by Posted on

I had lunch with a friend today and the topic of my platelet counts came up. Initially, as a genuine curiosity to know how they were, but then as a bit of gentle scolding at the fact misconception that I only ever share the bad platelet news – not the good.

Of course, as the humble person I am, I did admit that good platelet counts don’t really make the blog cut. (Which is really pathetic when you figure I’ve written about toenails falling off, bed-side lamps, and graham crackers with frosting!) I tried to explain that I do share my happy platelet count news on Facebook, but I was then reminded that I’m not friends with all of my friends* on Facebook. (Or any of my co-workers. You have to have boundaries, people!)

And so, I now fully and publicly acknowledge that I am rather bad about sharing my happy medical news on my blog – despite my willingness to share with you when I’m not as well as I’d like to be. And it’s not because I’m a hypochondriac and want to talk about being sick; it’s just because I never think about sharing the more regular “good” platelet news. (Or is it because when I have a really low count I am spending more time on the couch, and therefore on the Internet?)

But for not sharing the good news, I am sorry.

However, I also feel that I need to defend myself and point out that I have, in fact, shared a post that included a quick mention about an extremely high count once. (Re-reading the post today, just over a year later, has brought an ironic smile to my face, for my own silly reasons.)

As for my latest platelet count, please let the record show that it was 110. That is still lower than the low-end of normal, but it’s extremely high for me. So maybe I should have been shouting it from the blog-tops. (Must do better.)

Want more information about all of this platelet count malarkey?

  • To see a full run-down of my blog-declared counts, have a look through my posts tagged with ITP.
  • To learn about how/when I was diagnosed with ITP, check out this story.
  • Or to find more information about what platelets are and why they’re important in this post.

[Image is an artistic representation of some of my platelets that I drew way back in January 2011 to illustrate a story about – you guessed it! – a very low platelet count.]

* I know it’s strange, but sometimes you want friends to only be real-life friends, not virtual ones. Just like sometimes you’re perfectly happy to be friends with someone on Facebook, but you’d never want to play with them in the real world. And that’s OK. (So says I.)

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