Glanzmanns Thrombasthenia

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David's History

He was diagnosed at five months old after a week of tests in a local hospital. He presented signs of petechiae (blood spots just beneath the skin) and bruising all over his body. At first I suspected that they thought that David was a battered child, and as you can imagine this was very distressing. I would say that the first nine or so years were the hardest for us as David was in and out of hospital quite often. The main problems were with nose bleeds; however as time went by I became quite skilled in packing David's nose myself with ribbon gauze soaked in a mixture of Thrombin topical (bovine origin) and Adrenaline (1 in 1000). However, really bad bleeds needed platlet transfusions. I have a copy of David's hospital admissions from 1982 - 1993 which I will now itemise:

David Buxton D.O.B 14/5/82 Presented with easy bruising 6 weeks of age. Blood from heel prick for phenylketonuria test. Gets petechiae when holds breath in temper. 18/10/82 - refered to Dr. David Evans by Dr. Wolman, Booth Hall Hospital (Manchester, England). Dr. Evans had seen a case of G.T. some years before whilst abroad and tested for it... thus David was diagnosed. David was seen every few months and was also diagnosed with asthma.  
11/12/83 - Admitted for one day with a cold, acute wheezing, which responded to ventolin  
13/04/84 - Emergency admission with bleeding from mouth and gums. Given 4 units of platelets. Discharged 14/04/84.  
17/06/84 - Emergency admission with bleeding from right upper molar tooth which is emptying. Topical Thrombin to gums. No platelet transfusion. Discharged following day.  
18/09/84 - Emergency admission with wheezing. Discharged next day.  
01/10/84 - As above.  
15/10/84 - As above.  
24/11/84 - Emergency admission (again) with wheezing. To continue with regular ventolin and bricanyl spacer. Given short course of oral steroids and nebulised intal.  
05/02/85 - Emergency admission with bleeding from mouth. Given platelet transfusion. Discharged next day.  
24/03/85 - Emergency admission with epistaxis (nose bleed). Not responded to local treatment. Given 2 units of platelets. Discharged next day.  
15/04/85 - Emergency admission epistaxis right-sided. Nose packed. No platelets given. Discharged next day.  
29/05/85 - Emergency admission with epistaxis. Not responding to topical thrombin and adrenaline. Given 4 units platelets and discharged later same day.  
27/06/85 - As above, but give 2 units of platelets. Discharged next day.  
31/10/85 - As above. Given 4 units of platelets. Discharged next day.  
22/02/86 - Emergency admission for 18 hours because of epistaxis. No platelets given. (July 1986 - asthma seems to been improving!)  
28/07/86 - Emergency admission with epistaxis. Nose packed by mother in hospital! No platelets.  
07/09/87 - Seen by Mr. Mulligan (E.N.T.) Given cryothermy to nasal mucosa. Discharged 09/09/87.  
1989/90 - Still frequent epistaxis, but no emergency admissons or platelet transfusions  
27/03/90 - Admitted for electrocautery nasal mucosa. Discharged 29/03/90.  
20/09/90 - Admitted following head injury (fell at school disco). Observed overnight and discharged following day.  
(1991 - David is now able to pack nose himself)  
02/07/91 - Emergency admission with abdominal pain. Gradually settled. Discharged 05/07/91.  
05/06/92 - Emergency admission vomiting blood. Given 4 units of platelets and transfused 2 units of blood. Recovered and discharged on 08/06/92.  

Since then there have been numerous admissions of the same kind. I will update this list from time to time. Many other incidents we have been able to deal with at home. Christmas Eve '98 outside a local club David was attacked by 2 youths; injuries included a broken nose, severe bruising & black eyes; he was in hospital for 4 days, so it wasn't much of a Christmas all round.
We have encouraged David to swim rather than play contact spots but he did insist on playing football at school - as goalkeeper. That was quite amusing really because he turned out hopeless at the job and soon gave up that pursuit.
David's condition seems to have improved as he has got older (and perhaps more careful). He is quite independent and able to cope with most nosebleeds himself. He hasn't had any hospital visits for a while (apart from a couple of routine check-ups); he even rides a motorcycle (against my better judgement). He also has passed his car driving test. He has recently left college and now is looking forward to the future. We try to encourage him to live as normal a life a possible. He takes everything in his stride and we are very proud of him. He knows his capabilities and is very sensible. He has just come back from two weeks holiday with friends in Greece - no problems, just a small tooth bleed that he was able to cope with himself.
There is a noticeboard on this website for you to leave any messages, and I will be happy to answer any enquiries you have. My e-mail address is glanzmanns@cwcom.net, or marilyn.buxton@cwcom.net.
Marilyn Buxton July 2000.