Hi Rentzi,
I think seeing a rise in platelets over 2 days is a good sign. A very small rise in platelets after about 8 weeks was my first small sign that I was responding to treatment (besides when on the prednisone).
On the prednisone, my ANC rose from 0 to 600, and then very quickly began to plummet back towards 0 once the prednisone was removed. Even 6+ months after treatment my ANC would regularly fall below 300. So when I see the ANC numbers your husband has, even after the drop off post-prednisone, they sound pretty good to me.
My doctor was considering doing a second ATG at 6 months, and they I finally started getting much better.
I know the NIH studies have that 3 month response marker, and when I was still transfusion dependent at 3 months, I was very depressed and figured I'd failed treatment. But I hear anecdotally so many other stories of slow ATG responses, that ultimately are good responses all the same.
Your husband is very fortunate to have you there as a caring advocate. As to what he may need to help raise his spirits, your love and care for him might be doing that already - but it is such a slow and miserable process waiting to get better, wondering if it will work, that I think patients are almost bound to become distressed.
When I felt distressed, it was sometimes helpful to see stories of aplastic anemia survivors who had regained their health. Here is one about a woman post-ATG who was healthy enough to walk across the entire country to raise awareness of aplastic anemia:
http://madisoncourier.com/print.asp?...bSectionID=253
But of course the ATG may not ultimately work. When I thought about that and felt distressed, I found it would help some to see stories about aplastic anemia transplant survivors. Here is an especially inspiring one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_PtIRRo_ao
...there are many other success stories out there as well. Both of the stories above are of people who only got better slowly, and had to fight to get their health back, and still they succeeded at that goal.