[michelle_lapuz]

Hi everyone:

Just wanted to let all those living with low platelets to not strain...I was pulling up some very difficult bamboo a few weeks ago and straining pretty hard when about 30 minutes afterwards I was unable to speak for about 5-minutes or so...a CT scan revealed a small bleed in the 'vocal' part of my brain. My platelets were about 16 which is pretty decent for me, I've been living without platelet transfusions (other lines are up) for 6-months or so and tolerating it really well.

So if your platelets are on the lower side don't forget to breathe and leave the tough stuff for others, a brain bleed is pretty scary.

Michelle