Normal...

Jackson's count is now at 160,000! The normal count is 150,000 - 400,000.

Platelet Update...

Jackson's count is now up to 45,000. As always we were really hoping for more and wish that the count would climb faster, but are happy that it's headed in the right direction. We were told that this could take six months to get back to normal and it looks like that's the course we are taking.

The Bouncer...

When we found out that Jackson had ITP and that he wouldn't be able to enjoy the same activities that other kids could I was so sad. He couldn't spend time at the park running and jumping and jungle gyms were out of the question. We knew we'd have to restrict his activities and my mom came up with a great idea, a bouncer. So Grandma Pam purchased a Little Bopper Bounce House for the boy!

We set it up in our upstairs bedroom and brought him upstairs, camera ready for the shot... he cried. Then I cried. Why wasn't he super excited about his new bounce house?? Why didn't he want to be crazy and jump about?? I don't know the answer to either of those questions, but it sure did break my heart. I think he may have been scared. We had been telling him no running, no jumping and that he had to be safe... maybe this was too much?

Well we tried it again the next day, and he still didn't want to get in. Finally, I ignored the weight restriction and climbed in myself! Then he was willing to lie down next to me... but still no bouncing. After a while he "sat" on his knees and bounced a bit, but that was as far as he would go. Even when his friend Grayson came over to take turns in it, and he was much more interested in being back downstairs. I'm hoping he'll learn to have a little more fun in it, but it's going to take a while.


Mom and Jackson hanging in the bounce house

Bouncing on knees only

Bouncing with Grayson

Playdate with Grayson

Family Update...

Jackson's bruising: I am thrilled to report that Jackson's current bruises are going away and he's getting only a few more. He looks so much better than he did a few weeks ago and even last week. If this Monday his numbers are above 50,000, we'll be able to switch to every other week testing.

Addie's sleeping schedule: Addie is getting into a bit of a night routine. And yes I do know that now that I have this figured out it will change. But for now, she is doing some cluster feeding between 7 and 9, then I wake her up at 10 or 10:30 for a final feeding, she sleeps for 3 or 4 hours then! Somewhere around 2:00 she wakes again for a feeding and a diaper change and then Ron spends some time getting her back to sleep. At 5:00 she wakes again for a feeding and a diaper change and then spends the rest of the morning asleep next to me in bed.

Kitchen Remodel: Yeah, what better time to decide to finish the remodel in our kitchen... Luckily, Ron is taking this one on by himself. We are adding cabinets to the other side of our kitchen, replacing our microwave with an under-the-counter model and switching the stove and fridge.

Ron: He's keeping busy with the kitchen and helping to take care of our family. But in addition, it's time for Fall ball, which means double headers every Tuesday night, it gives him a chance to hang out with the guys and get some exercise for a bit.

Sara: I'm nothing more than "MOM" these days. I like being home with the kids and finding creative ways to keep Jackson busy and interacting. We are having fun, but when Addie's routine becomes a little more predictable, I'm looking forward to a dinner out with just my husband.

Latest Platelet Count...

Jackson's platelet count as of this morning was 39,000!! We are thrilled with the increase. We are not out of the woods yet as the bottom end of normal is 150,000, but this increase was more than we expected so soon. We'll test again next week.

Latest Platelet Count...

I had so hoped that the count would have gotten us out of the extreme danger zone, but no such luck. However, the count is going up and that's enough to make me feel slightly better about Jackson's illness. He is still bruising easily and looks tough, but some of the worst bruises are starting to look better.

Count as of Monday August 17, 2009: 9,000 per cu/ml

Latest platelet count...

Results from Monday's blood test are in: Jackson is now up to 5,000 platelets. Not great, but at least they are headed in the right direction, up. It's still a long ways off from the 150,000 needed to be at the low end of normal. Jackson is still in the extremely dangerous range until we are above 10,000, so we'll be spending all of our time keeping him as safe as possible. We'll go back on Monday again for another blood test.

Jackson has officially been pulled from childcare and I am on leave from work, hoping that Addie stays put for just another week.

Speaking of Addie, I had a doctor appointment yesterday and am still sitting the same. 80% and dialated 2cm. I think Addie knows that it'd be helpful if she waited a bit longer to join the family, though we can't wait to meet her!

Also yesterday, Jackson and I got out to Como Zoo. It was a safe trip to take, mostly in the stroller and Jackson was able to get some visual stimulation, especially in the butterfly garden. I dressed the poor kid in pants even on such a hot day to cover a few of his bruises, but we did route over to the misting machine and get cooled down before taking in the Sparky Show!

How we got to ITP...

We haven't been in touch lately and folks are asking if Addie has made an arrival. The answer is no, thankfully Addie is holding off for now so that we can deal with Jackson's health issues. We have been struggling to cope with an unexpected illness called ITP. To be honest, I'm not very good at dealing with stress and I tend to panic easily. This diagnoses has been very hard on us and we are trying to take it a day at at time, but everything has seemed so unreal the last few days that we haven't reached out, but will when we are ready.

Heading back to Thursday August 6: I left a doctor appointment and I picked Jackson up from Playschool and noticed that he has several scratch marks on his neck. I asked him what happened and was informed that "Isaiah did it." As I look up, Isaiah and his mom are talking to one of the teachers, Megan. Jackson's teacher Alexis confirmed that Isaiah and Jackson got into a battle over a toy and that Isaiah was very aggressive and it took a bit for Megan to get him off of Jackson. After Isaiah and his mom left the building, Alexis informed me that Isaiah had a rough day and had a stack of incident reports. (While Jackson has been in his share of scuffles at Playschool, we have never been sent home with an incident report.) That evening I noticed that along with the scratches, bruises were forming along Jackson's neck. I also noticed that he had a significant bruise under his right arm... in what looked to be the shape of a thumbprint.

Friday August 7: I met up with my friend Cari and her son Henry for some play time at Java train. Jackson played in the train and was out of my sight for 5 minute incriments. One time as he was trying to climb up to the chair next to me, he slipped a bit and managed to scrape his shin on the chair, no tears involved, he tried again and made it up on the chair.

When I got Jackson up from nap, I noticed that his shin was really bruised, when I asked him what happened, he told me that he fell on the chair at Java Train. Hrmmph... really? I didn't realize it was THAT bad, poor kid, bad mom. :(

Time for the boy to get his hair cut... off to Kidz Hair we go. Half way into his haircut, Jackson is holding incredibly still watching Scooby Dooby Doo, the stylist asks about the lump on his head. What lump? I get up to check out the hematoma-quarter-sized-purple-welt on my poor boy's head. I call Ron and we decide that we will head to Playschool next and talk to the Owner, Carol.

Playschool: Carol is aware of the situation from the day before and tells me that they will be moving Isaiah to the next room. He is not any older than the kids in his room, but he is aggressive and they are hoping that moving him with bigger kids will help. She apologizes for the incident and off we go.

Saturday August 8: I am a bit distraught over the condition of my kid... bruises on his neck, arms and legs. We go about our day and when Ron gets home we talk about the bruises and wonder what we should do about childcare. We question if we are doing enough.

Sunday August 9: Jackson wakes up with even more brusing... and now he seems to have pin-point sized bruising on his legs and belly. We do some online research and know that this could be something very serious such as, Leukemia. We call a nurse line and Ron talks extensively to a nurse about what is going on. She thinks we should take Jackson in on Monday to his primary doctor and figure it out from there, she doesn't think it's an emergency.

I continue to look at my son, realizing that he is covered in pin-point sized bruises and after a brief stint on the potty chair has bruised in a ring around his butt. Ron calls Urgent Care and we get in at 11:45.

Urgent Care: Jackson does great for the nurse allows her to take his temperature, stands still on the scale to be weighed, and keeps his finger still while his oxygen level is monitored. Dr. Scanlon the on-call doctor at Aspen thinks the bruising is abnormal and sends us to the lab for a blood draw. Jackson does incredible getting his blood drawn, not one tear and is happy to have the Spiderman sticker! The blood tests are done and it comes back that Jackson's platelet level is at 0. Ugh. Dr. Scanlon has called ahead to Children's ER and tells us to take Jackson there.

Children's ER: Jackson is given a gown and we wait to see doctor Jeffrey Louie. It is decided that he will do another blood draw at the ER because their machines are more accurate and can get a closer measurement of his platelet level. Nurse Jen comes back in to take his blood and put in an IV in case Jackson needs a transfusion. Jackson again does really well and is such a trooper, he sheds a couple of tears and tells the nurse he wants to sit with his mommy, but he really does so very well. After another hour of waiting the doctor comes back with the news that his platelet level is sitting at 3,000 per cu/ml. This level is DANGEROUSLY LOW, normal platelet count is 150,000 - 400,000 per cu/ml. The hemotologist and our primary doctor have been contacted. Jackson's white blood count is normal, therefore we can rule out Leukemia. We are given information on his diagnoses ITP and sent home, told to be very careful and limit Jackson's activities. We know that Jackson will bruise with any pressure, that his level of platelets is so low that his blood will not clot and that a head injury could be fatal at this point.

Monday August 10: We check in with Jackson's primary doctor, Dr. Mayrand. Dr. Mayrand has seen only 4 cases of ITP in his 18 years of practice, but is working closely with the hematologist at Children's to guide us in Jackson's care. We will continue to take things a day at a time. Jackson had to give another sample of blood and this time didn't go as smooth, he knows what's coming and isn't so happy about the needle headed his way. The blood was sent off to Abbot and now we will wait for these results and hope that the platelet count starts rising. Our main concern is keeping Jackson safe and limiting the brusing as much as possible. How to tell a 2.5 year old boy that he can't run, or that he needs to be calm and less active is what we are trying to figure out now.

These pictures don't really pick up all of the bruising, but they give you an idea what he looks like. He's still a happy boy and is not in pain... he just looks like he got run over by a truck. Thankfully they did the blood tests before they called child protection to take the little guy away from us!

What is ITP?...

ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura) is a blood clotting disorder in which the platelet count is the blood is too low. Platelets are par of the body's system for preventing bleeding. The normal platelet count is 150,000 - 400,000 per cu/ml. (as of 8/9/09 Jackson's count was 3,000) A count below 10,000 is potentially a medical emergency, as the patient may be vulnerable to subarachnoid or intracerebral hemorrhage as a result of moderate head trauma.

The incidence of ITP is estimated at 50–100 new cases per million per year, with children accounting for half of that amount. Children often develop ITP after a viral infection and usually recover fully without treatment. But the cause of ITP is not really known. It is known, however, that in people with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, the immune system malfunctions and begins attacking platelets as if they were foreign substances.

Antibodies produced by your immune system attach themselves to the platelets, marking the platelets for destruction. The spleen, which helps your body fight infection, recognizes the antibodies and removes the platelets from your system. The result of this case of mistaken identity is a lower number of platelets than normal.

Ordinarily, you have anywhere from 150,000 to 450,000 platelets per cu/ml of circulating blood. As the number of platelets decreases, your risk of bleeding increases. The greatest risk is when your platelet count falls very low — below 10,000 platelets per cu/ml. At this point, internal bleeding may occur despite a lack of any injury, although this is rare.

In children, ITP usually runs its course without the need for treatment. About 80 percent of children with ITP recover completely within six months. Even in children who develop chronic ITP, complete recovery may still occur, even years later.

**This information all taken from Mayo Clinic, Wikipedia and Children's Hospital.