Call 911 - The Specialist

I squeezed my car into the free parking at the RUH Emergency room (do people not realize that you are suppose to part between the yellow lines, not on them) and registered myself with the receptionist (nurses). I was quickly taken to the kids section of the ER and given a little bed in the corner to wait for the specialist. Of course, before the specialist comes in I first have to get more blood work done. So down come the lab people to jab me for some blood. As I was talking to the nurse and telling her about my platelet count she couldn't believe I was operating in such a good manner. The Medi Clinic doctor had mentioned something about this too and I had just shrugged it off. I thought I felt fine, but they made it sound like I should be half dead already and no longer walking. Since I'm always tired anyway I guess I never realized that I was suppose to be "fatigued". I asked her how long I was going to be in the hospital and when she said 2-3 hours I quickly placed a call in to work to let them know my lunch break was going a little longer than normal.

Finally, the Specialist entered my curtained room. I sat up from my cramped bed (remember these are kids beds so I can't even fully lay down on them) only to realize after the introductions that this was just a precursor to seeing the Specialist. I felt like I was trying to talk to someone in government over the phone but you keep getting transferred around instead. Actually, the intern was very nice and after answering a million questions I went back to sleep, being assured that the Specialist would be coming soon.

I heard the curtain being pulled back and when I opened my eyes I was surrounded by the Specialist and his 2 bodyguards. I couldn't believe it...it was actually him. The Specialist. A blood specialist to be more specific (though not very technical). This was it. I was getting the low down. After throwing out all the medical terms and phrases that blew right past me, he started to speak English. Apparently they figured I had ITP, (read more about ITP), which means my body thinks the platelets are bad and gets rid of them, causing my blood not to clot which shows up as bruising. He said he was not concerned yet, but I would need to go onto steroids.

Stay tuned for "Life on Roids" as this saga continues...