Hereditary Spherocytosis and me.
“Hereditary spherocytosis is a common inherited disorder that is characterised by anaemia, jaundice, and splenomegaly.”
It was odd, of course, for a ten year old to have gallstones. It was certainly stranger for me to miss a full week of summer camp to sleep on the couch, swimming in and out of consciousness until this virus I’d contracted came to a head.
I’ve had two blood transfusions in the past 15 years, both due to some unknown illness setting of my Hereditary Spherocytosis. To be fair, it’s something I forget I have, much like my tongue ring or the mole on my face, until someone brings it up. If I ever mention I’m feeling ill, my mother will demand to check my colour. Along with gallstones, a side effect of the blood disorder is jaundice, which gets more severe when my oddly round red blood cells are suddenly under attack. Though the whites of my eyes have generally never been white, it took that week home from summer camp and my skin turning highlighter yellow for my parents to whisk me into Emerg. I wish I could remember it (although not really) if only to see the family story-worthy expression on the nurse’s face who first saw me being wheeled in.
I don’t know if my siblings ever forgave me for having them dragged into SickKids…
