Thal minor and without spleen

Hi all,
My name is Chloe, and I have a cousin, 11, who suffers Thal Minor since age 4.
She had her spleen deducted to 85% through an operation when she was 4 years old. The doctor suggested to operate her spleen because the spleen was swallow and kept rub her stomach which made her stomach injured. The operation was a success, and my cousin live a very normal life (she grows up very well), except that she is not allowed to drink any soft drinks, and suggested to eat more meat than vegetables.

About 1 week ago, she relapsed. She had blood vomit for 2 days straight. The doctor diagnosed an injury in her stomach. She was very pale and had fever (to 39 degree Celcius), also had 8 bags of blood transfusion. 
Now, she is at home already, but eats only filtered porridge.

My question is :
1) Should she receives blood transfusion periodically since her operation? Because she never had.
2) Is it right for her to eat more meat than vegetables because of her Thal?
3) Why did she relapse after 6 years live a normal life?
4) Was she had blood vomit because of her Thal or her injured stomach?

Thank you for the attention given..

-Chloe

Hi Chloe ,
nice to see you posting , i hope you will get your answer really soon once our senior member login here , i hope you will get super from the and i hope that andy the all other moderators will help you just waita lil bit andd keep visiting the site ,, stay in-touch with us and keep posting  .. BEST OF LUCK ...

Best Regards
Take Care
Umair

Hi Chloe,

Welcome on the forum,I have a few questions for you,How was it determined that your cousin has thal minor,what tests were done?

If its confirmed that she is a thal minor then i don't think she needs regular transfusions,but if she is thal intermedia,then she might need occasional or may be even regular transfusions,do you know what level of hemoglobin she usually maintains?

If she should eat more meat? that will again be determined by her hb levels and her thal status,and if iron studies were done?

About your last two questions,it may be related to thal or may be not,please give us a bit detailed account of her tests done and her hb levels then we will be able to help you more.

Take care,

Zaini.

Hi Chloe,

Has your cousin had a scan of her abdomen to see what is wrong and why there is blood? These are really questions that only a doctor can answer.

Removing the spleen of thal minors is quite rare and it is a questionable practice. However, if there was a danger of the spleen rupturing, then the doctors may have felt that there was no alternative. However, partial splenectomy is seldom a good choice, as the spleen can grow back.

There really are no medical conditions that would require anyone to eat any meat, let alone more meat. Eating meat is a matter of choice and has nothing to do with any specific nutrients. She should follow a healthy diet full of fresh fruit and vegetables to make sure she is getting all the essential nutrients.

Most important right now is that a doctor diagnose why she is having her current problems.

Nice Friend, thank you for your kind reply :D

Zaini, before and after her spleen operation completed, she never had any tests. We knew about her Thal Minor only from the diagnose of a prominent doctor in Thal disease in our country. She never had blood transfusion after the operation, and her hB at the moment is 9.8
The doctor said that it is better for her to take more meat than vegetables, because it would be better for her digestion. The logic (as we get this from the doctor) is if the digestion works hard (by eat more vegetables), than it will injured again. If the stomach injured, than she will suffer to blood vomit again. Unfortunately, she never had her iron tested.

Andy she had her abdomen check through a scan procedure, but the doctor couldn't find any problem inside. When she was 9 months old, she had a bloated stomach. At first, the doctor thought it was because she was too skinny. But when she was 4 years old, and had her first blood vomit, she had a thorough test and found out that she had a thal minor. That's when the doctor and family decided to operate her spleen.

I just heard from my auntie about the diagnose from her latest doctor.
The doctor thinks that there might be a vein inside my cousin's stomach which probably injured due to her consumed food before the relapse, and lead to blood vomit. The doctor also believes that because her hB is lower than normal people, than when the injury took place it was difficult for the blood to coagulated.
Therefore, the doctor suggested to have an endoscopy test to see what happen in her stomach. However, the family are worry that the endoscopy test would give more injury to her stomach and make her suffer more
What should we do?

Dear Chloe,

I'm so sorry to hear what your cousin is going through. Her hemoglobin looks okay for her age. I hope the experts on this forum can be helpful to you in figuring things out for your cousin. I also hope that she's in hands of a good doctor.

I wish your cousin and your family the best! I hope she'll be properly diagnosed and treated and will not vomit blood again! 

Best regards,
SF