The Relapse

Feeling really happy and healthy I decided I wanted to spend some time living with my brother in Red Deer, AB for the summer of 2016. He was getting a new puppy and needed help raising her since he works shift work as a paramedic/firefighter. Since I had no substantial education behind me yet, I figured if I was going to be a waitress for another summer I'd rather do it somewhere where I was only a few hours drive from the mountains! I wanted to explore my passion for the outdoors and camp in the woods, go hiking and take photos along the way. I couldn't wait to meet my brother's puppy and help care for her. They were great plans to begin with but didn't all make it to the big picture.

My brother's puppy Layla.

I moved there in the last week of April and it was May 3rd when I started to notice some peculiar yet familiar signs on my body. I had spent a day outside enjoying the sun but when I came inside I noticed a pattern on my legs.

Which was then followed by a large spread of petechiae (blood spots) within a few days.

I knew the significance of these spots showing up and so waited a few days to see if they would reabsorb on their own. Once I knew they weren't going away, I went to see a doctor and got a blood test done. Sure enough, my platelets were at 70. The normal range for platelets is 150-450 and so mine were below half of the low end of normal. We decided to wait three weeks and get another blood test done just to monitor the situation and when that time came, they had dropped to 53. Another three weeks and they slumped to 38 which was the number at which I decided to check in with my hematologist in Saskatoon to see what his opinion was since I wasn't sure if the information was being relayed between doctors. I made the phone call back home and I was told to pack my things and move home so that they could keep an eye on me in close proximity to the doctors who were familiar with my case.

My first appointment back in Saskatoon proved to be a difficult one to take. My hematologist told me that my body was fully relapsing and I would need to go through treatment again. By July 1st I was back on cyclosporine and felt pretty down about the whole situation. I was so hopeful that I was going to be aplastic anemia free since my body responded so well to the drug the first time. My doctor had said in 2014 that I would have good chances in not relapsing because of the quick response, but yet my body had a different plan.