Enlarged spleen

[Jellybaby]

Hey guys,
So have been having a lot of appointments back and forth with doctors at the moment and it's such a long story but basically I have cf and also scoliosis which is a curve in the spine...my back has gotten worse and really I should have had surgery on it by now but because I have an enlarged liver and very enlarged spleen I have really low platelets so surgery would be too risky due to blood loss etc. Doctors have talked about doing what's called 'tips surgery' which involves the hepatic portal vein and it reduces some of the pressure on my liver and spleen which could help a little with platelets. There's also the surgery of taking my spleen out but it wouldn't be best idea because it's needed it the immune system!
Seems to be no easy way out but has anyone out there done or had anything to help for an enlarged spleen and low platelets? Still in school and learning a lot of biology from all this! Haha

 

[juliefaler]

My daughter had an enlarged liver and extremely enlarged spleen. Anytime she had procedures done they gave her platelets. She did well with those procedures. Low platelets will always be an issue for you. We were told the tips surgery could cause problems or even prevent a liver transplant in the future. (This was about 15 yrs ago) As she got older, her lungs were failing, and she could not keep weight on. A feeding tube became necessary. They had to do a J-Tube because of the size of her spleen. Her doctors said she had one of the largest spleens they had ever seen. Unfortunately there is nothing they can really do for it at this time. Hers was so enlarged her only chance/option for a lung/liver transplant was for the spleen to be removed first. It was causing too many complications as they were planning the transplant. Unfortunately after her spleen surgery her lungs did not handle it well, she passed away a few weeks later at the age of 28.