June 29, 2011 (Wednesday)

Chrissy shared today that …David feels unable to go on…that is how bad he has been doing. His platelets are 15 today, he will need blood tomorrow. He’s miserable and not drinking anything. He only ate for the first time today, nothing before. He has lost more weight.

Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

I looked up the consequences of low platelets and here is some information that I found:

What are platelets?

Platelets are tiny cells that circulate in the blood and whose function is to take part in the clotting process. Inside each platelet are many granules, containing compounds that enhance the ability of platelets to stick to each other and also to the surface of a damaged blood vessel wall.

The platelet count in the circulating blood is normally between 150 and 400 million per milliliter of blood.

What do platelets do?

Platelets are essential in the formation of blood clots to prevent hemorrhage - bleeding from a ruptured blood vessel. An adequate number of normally functioning platelets is also needed to prevent leakage of red blood cells from apparently uninjured vessels. In the event of bleeding, muscles in the vessel wall contract and reduce blood flow. The platelets then stick to each other (aggregation) and hold on to the vessel wall (primary haemostasis). The coagulation factors are then activated, resulting in normally liquid blood becoming an insoluble clot or glue.

What are the risks of a low platelet count?

The main effect of a reduced platelet count is an increased risk of bleeding, but this rarely occurs until there are less than 80-100 million platelets per ml.

There is not a close relationship between the number of platelets and the severity of bleeding, but there is an increasing risk of hemorrhage if platelet numbers fall or if platelet function is impaired (for example by aspirin, which reduces the 'stickiness' of the platelets).

There is a particularly high risk of spontaneous bleeding once the platelet count drops below 10 million per ml. The bleeding is usually seen on the skin in the form of tiny pin-prick hemorrhages or bruises following minor trauma. Bleeding from the nose and the gums is also quite common. More serious hemorrhage can occur at the back of the eye (retina), sometimes threatening sight.The most serious complication, which is potentially fatal, is spontaneous bleeding inside the head (intracranial) or from the lining of the gut (gastrointestinal).