CancerCompass message board discussion started by mrsarc1105 on 4/22/2008 http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,23318,0.htm Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Hello- In October 2007, I found out I was pregnant (yay!) and the OB sent me to get all my bloodwork.  Well my platelet count came back in the 800s so my OB sent me to hematologist ASAP.  My hemo. repeated the bloodwork and yep my platelets were elevated but they had dropped into the 700s.  I kept having bloodwork every month and finally he sent me for a Jak2 test.  The first one was inconclusive but the 2nd one came back positive.  He was very surprised because I am only 28 but he said that with advances in testing, more and younger people are being diagnosed. My platelet count for the last three months have been normal so I am very grateful that my hematologist was on the ball and kept sending me for tests.  When he told me I had ET, I went home and googled it and of course got freaked out.  I then talked to him some more and he put me in the low risk category and wont be doing anything until I have a BMB which will be after I deliver my twin girls in June : ) He also assured me that most ET patients go on to lead very normal lives with normal life expectancies but that I will need to be monitored.  Since I am super serious about anything health related, I cant imagine that I will slack off with the monthly monitoring he is suggesting. I also talked to several close friends in the medical field and they told me that the old mentality of a 10-15 life expectancy for ET was reserved for elderly patients and that this was thought to be a disease of the elderly. That really put things in perspective and made me feel better because I plan to lead a long and happy life with my husband, my twin girls, and anymore children we plan on having. After I freaked out, I did realize that it is a good thing they caught this now.  It will allow me and my doctors to be proactive, especially important for pregnant woman and post partum. I am also lucky that I live in an area with excellent hospitals and medical research (Pittsburgh, PA in America). Thats my story : ) mrsarc1105 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT