Fear.  Uncertainty.  Dread.  These are some of the things I felt in my journey to get my bone marrow transplant.  But maybe I should start at the beginning….

So in October of 2023 I was having some routine bloodwork done.  Some to check on my cholesterol and glucose for my family Dr for my physical, and some tests for my rheumatologist to make sure everything will still OK with my psoriasis treatments.  I had no real issues or complaints, these were all just normal tests.  When I got the results back I knew that my family Dr would want to discuss them with me, so I pre-emptivly booked an appointment so we could discuss the glucose and cholesterol levels and put together a plan.  I also noticed that my platelet level was very low even for me, but I figured it I needed to be concerned the rheumatologist would contact me. 

Fast forward to my appointment with my family Dr. 2 weeks later.  I was right to assume that she wanted to see me about the glucose and cholesterol, however she seemed more concerned about the platelets.  We discussed the platelet levels for a while, and she was very concerned that the rheumatologist had not yet contacted me.  So much so, that she said she would fax their office and light a fire under their asses.  We never did discuss the other issues.  She felt we needed to deal with the platelet issue first.

In the mean time, my wife and started looking into what could cause low platelets.  We started with the medications that I was on for the psoriatic arthritis.  After a bunch of research it seems that methotrexate toxicity could potentially cause low platelets.  Seeing as the rulsts came as a result of the testing the rheumatologist was having done, we both figured that this is why they do the testing, and since the Dr.  hadn’t called, we decided that it would be best to stop the drug just in case.