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I have been going insane waiting for the results of the bone marrow biopsy that my mother had on 2/28. Today she got some of the results back - all of it looks good so far. Cellularity has increased with no signs of clonal transformations. (I don't have the exact numbers yet as the report has not been uploaded) Still waiting on the full genetic tests, but I am so relieved there is nothing else sinister lurking.
My mother's counts have been slowly improving still. Her Hgb finally fell to 8.0 so she was given 1 unit of blood on 2/21, and has stayed at an average of 9.4 since then. Platelets had fallen to exactly 20 on the day of the biopsy so she was given 2 bags. As of today they were still at 30, two weeks later.
Since stopping the prednisone she has been having more side effects from other medications, but seeing an overall improvement in the bloodwork numbers. Creatinine is still a bit of an issue, fluctuating between 1.5-1.8. So far no extra treatment has been needed except for extra IV fluids.
Her ferritin has been much improved, even with her being not very compliant on the Exjade - last test was around 1300, quite a decrease from 2400 a few months ago! That number was even after the last bag of blood, so I assume it was even lower than that before.
I fear getting ahead of myself and having too much hope. But my mother's hematologist seemed to think it was good, and he and my mother agreed that for right now we shall stay the course as-is. Continued improvement would be fantastic. Although she still needed some transfusion, she had gone 6 weeks without needing blood and almost a month before needing more platelets.
Matthew42, my mother's heme considered recommending N-Plate before now. I think we will stay with the Promacta a bit longer. He had also suggested possibly switching to tacrolimus if necessary since it's supposed to be less toxic on the liver and kidneys.
It seems you have gotten some good information from Dr. Young's team. I'm glad they were able to give you some workable paths to take in the future. Having multiple plans is really useful.
Best wishes to everyone.
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