Brian 74 writes on 20th February 2014 I was due to have the first of two operations on my knees. Accordingly, I had a pre-op examination three weeks before. On the day after the pre-op I received a phone call from the hospital to say that the operation had been cancelled because I had a very…
Hi my name is Pamela. I am 55 years old and I live in Western Australia. I was diagnosed at the age of 47 after a high platelet level was found in a normal health check. My father was also diagnosed at the same time although he is thirty years my senior. At this time…
My name is Helen and I was originally diagnosed with ET in October 1991 when I was 39 years old. It had been a fairly hot summer and I was suffering from increasing pain and discomfort in my feet. The only way of relieving the pain was using what my children referred to as Mum’s…
My name is Gina and I have essential thrombocythaemia (ET). I am one of the rare people to be diagnosed with a myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) as a child: I was diagnosed at the age of twelve. Today I’ve completed undergraduate and graduate degrees in the disability sector. I lead a busy and active life working…
I am a 70 year old man living in the wilds of Wiltshire and still going strong whilst living with ET. I started in the rubber industry in 1963 after leaving school and worked for a tyre company in the west of England, . I stayed in the rubber industry another 15 years and then…
I’m a 53 year old bloke from North London and I was diagnosed with essential thrombocythaemia about 16 years ago. Under the care of my consultant, I’ve been taking interferon alpha which to date has controlled my blood counts very effectively. At this point, I have a completely normal life, whatever that means. Numb on right…
My name is Sally, I am 71 years of age and I have ET. I was diagnosed in 2008 following a routine blood test which showed an abnormally high platelet count. I was offered the choice of three hospitals to go to for specialist treatment and I chose one in Ashford, Kent because it could…
I was flabbergasted when, in December 2013, I was diagnosed with essential thrombocythaemia. I had thought that I was perfectly healthy – in fact I had visited my doctor for the first time in four years with symptoms totally unrelated to essential thrombocythaemia. The doctor treated me and also decided that, as I was in…
Twelve years ago if you had asked me what E.T stood for I probably, like many others would have replied “A funny alien on a bicycle!” Like so many sufferers I had been unwell for a while, even as a nursing sister I did not recognise my symptoms. Endless night sweats were an early Menopause,…