My name is Jessyca Basque I’m 35 years old and I live in Oromocto, New Brunswick. I’m married to Steven and have two children Elizabeth who is 10 and Nikolas who is 7. I was diagnosed with TTP in 2006, when I was 30 years old and my children at the time were 1 and a half and 4 years old. I currently stay at home and take care of my kids. The first time I was diagnosed I went to the emergency room with stomach pains. At the local hospital the doctor took blood samples and my platelets were down to 6000 per ul. I was then sent to a bigger hospital only to be transferred to Quebec City. I spent the next 4 months at the hospital before I could continue the treatments at the outpatient clinic. I had never heard of TTP before and didn’t understand how and why I was diagnosed with this. The first few months were very hard physically and mentally my children were 7 hours away at their grand parents and Nikolas was only a baby.
After finishing my treatments my life somewhat went back to normal for almost 2 years and then I had a relapse. Again I spent three months in the hospital in Quebec City. I then was able to transfer to Saint John under the care of Dr. Sean Dolan to finish my outpatient treatments. TTP has changed my life and my family life, after my first relapse me and my husband decided to move closer to Saint John. We decided that as a family the kids had suffered enough being away when I was sick that this was the best choice for us.
In the bottom of my heart I wished that I never would have to visit the ER for this but in February I had another relapse. This made our move decision the smartest family decision we ever made. I was admitted with my platelets again at 6000 per ul. I stayed roughly 2 weeks in the hospital before being allowed to do the treatments at the outpatient. I did roughly 2 months of treatment before I had a splenectomy. I have been without a spleen or a plasma treatment for about a month now and my platelets are keeping steady. I thank Dr. Dolan and Dr. Comeau for all the help they have given me. I also thank Arlene for being there when I needed her as well as Stephanie and the other nurses that help me through this.
TTP has changed my life forever; it has made me stronger because each day can be a struggle. It has changed my family and also a lot of things that I took for granted. I take my afternoon naps just to keep up and go to bed early because I’m constantly tired but I have learned to live with this. I forget more things but my family understands that this is part of me now. I have learned my limits and understand that I shouldn’t exceed these limits or else I pay for it the next few days. I don’t know what the future holds for my family and me but I hope I am done with TTP. Being diagnosed with TTP has changed some of my plans for the future; the biggest thing is I don’t know what the future holds. I hope that this relapse was my last; I want to enjoy the rest of my life without having to fear I will relapse again. I thank my family for all the help they have given me.