Nephews Rule!

Pseudothrombocytopenia


Sometimes little bits of the randomness of life conspire to throw your world completely upside down.

I've been couch surfing in LA for the past 5 weeks because the New Zealand consulate will not issue me a new work visa because the results of my medical exam were showing a low blood platelet count.

Thrombocytopenia is the medical term for a low blood platelet count. Platelets (thrombocytes) are colorless blood cells that play an important role in blood clotting. They stop blood loss by clumping together at the site of a blood vessel injury and forming plugs in vessel holes. If for any reason your blood platelet count falls below normal, this is called thrombocytopenia. Complications may range from none at all to severe bleeding.

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) is a commonly used anticoagulant in sampling tubes designed for determination of complete blood counts. Associated with this anticoagulant is a phenomenon that is well known to cause erroneous reports of low platelet counts by automated analyzers. It occurs with an incidence of approximately 0.1% in the general population.

Well, five blood tests later, I finally went and saw a hematologist. After examining my blood under a microscope, she diagnosed me with EDTA Pseudothrombocytopenia.

Doh!

First Post


I created this account a little over a year ago but never got around to posting anything. For some reason the first post of a blog seems like a daunting task. Well fuck it, here we go...

Above is an x-ray of Lakshmi Tatma and her parasitic twin. The parasitic twin has since been surgically removed. Booyakasha!