You probably don’t want to hear about a blood disorder that you’ve never even heard of but this blood disorder is something that you cannot ignore. ITP (Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura) is a rare but a serious blood disorder. This blood disorder affects your body by excessive bleeding from the nostrils, cuts and/or gums. It also affects your body with unknown bruises and little red dots that are called petechiae.
My younger sister, Georgie Lopez,(pictured at lower right) age 15 that attends Colton High school as a freshman, was diagnosed with this blood disorder on November 9, 2012. When she was diagnosed, we had no idea how much this could and would affect her life. At first, it started with suspicious bruising and long lasting nose bleeds. Then she started to get very weak and sensitive to everything.
The doctors tried every treatment they possibly could for her. The main treatment that she receives on a regular basis is steroids. It’s not the same type of steroids that athletes usually use, these types of steroids are to suppress the immune system, which means it help builds the platelet wall to decrease blood loss. This steroid did make my sister gain weight and made her feel very tired and weak all the time.
The doctors didn’t know how Georgie received this disorder, the only thing they were trying to do was reverse it and help Georgie have her normal teenage life back. In order to reverse this disorder, they had to do a splenectomy. The spleen is located on your left side under your breast. As platelets, they have been found in the antibodies which are taken up by macrophages in the spleen. This procedure can be risky, for she can lose a great amount of blood.
They recently just did a splenectomy on my little sister, Georgie. They did four incisions, one on the rim of the belly, one on the right side under her breast and on the opposite side and then, one beneath her belly button. My family and I have yet to find out if it has reversed her disorder but we are very eager and patiently waiting to find out.
