Transplant
 

How long did it take to be transfusion dependent after bmt. How long until you felt better after saa?

Kim,

I assume you are asking how long to become transfusion independent after a transplant. My wife was transfusion dependent before and during her transplant. She had 5 transfusions in the 4 months following the transplant, and none since then.

Hi Kim, my understanding is transfusion dependence varies for each patient.

I had a non-myeloablative unrelated donor transplant end of January 2013, & was platelet transfusion free by week 2 (after needing them every 2-5 days previously) with normal platelets by week 3 or 4, and red blood cell dependent by 3 months, but was told this can take 1 year. Though I'm now almost 9 months post & have been transfusion free since end April, my hematocrit finally reached normal (36 for women) end Sept at month 8. my hematocrit was at 35 for 4 months so I was thrilled to finally reach normal. The only remaining count we're still waiting to become normal is my IG-G (immunoglobulin G). I've still needed an IG-G infusion every 2 months, though my team has told me this can take a bit more than 1 year post to reach normal, they typically stop IG-G infusions at 10 months to encourage patients systems to produce it without assistance.

Kim my husband has needed blood and or platelets every couple days since being admitted. He just recied blood and platelets 2 days agoand he is on day +16 . I figured it was just due to them wiping out all off his stem cells and maybe agrivating his PNH as those cells were being destroyed. But that was just a thought not something I ever verified.
His team seems to feel like its normal to need blood products that's one reason they do a CBC every morning. But everyone has a different amount they will need. their only concern on the transfusions is the iron (which I'm sure you know)
Can't say I wasn't shocked though from him going from 4 wks between transfusions to a couple days between so I hear ya.