Question from Aurora, Illinois, USA:

My five year old son has had type 1 diabetes for 11 months. In the past four months, his platelets have gone above the normal range and they are continuing to rise. They rose 100 points last month alone. His general practitioner and his endocrinologist are both concerned and sent him to see a pediatric hematologist in Chicago. This specialist basically laughed us right out of the office and thought it was crazy that we were even there. He did not run a blood test of his own or anything. He said the disease that is associated with high platelets does not arise in children. I realize that this is his specialty, but I don’t take comfort in the fact that both of his other doctors are extremely concerned. I don’t feel the specialist really looked into it. Do you know anything about high platelets in children, especially children already dealing with type 1 diabetes? I hate questioning a specialist but I have to be sure my son is ok.