[Jx3]

At the age 60 yrs old, my father was diagnosed with AA in Early Dec 2011 and has received the ATG Treatment. As expected he has had to have several transfusions of blood and platelets with the longest time period lasting about a week in between transfusions. As we all know the doctors have told us to not really worry about the blood levels and the platelet levels but to keep an eye on his WBC.

About a month ago he went to the specialist at Vanderbilt for a monthly checkup. The doctor’s told him that he needed to have a higher level of WBC b/c they have been staying around .8-1.0, or he would have to have a Bone Marrow Transplant. Dad is scheduled to go next week to have another bone marrow aspiration completed to find out for sure on his levels. With in the past three weeks he has had a steady increase from 1.0 to 1.3 to 1.7 (last week).

Today when he went in to have his blood work checked. His WBC has fallen back to 1.3. When I called to check on him I could tell in his voice that he is devastated as expected and packing his hospital bag for another round of transfusion. It seems like my mother and sister are just hanging on by a thread before the have complete melt down and we can not get all of our questions answered. We also have read in all the forums that changes may take longer than 3 months but the doctors are pushing to get him on the transplant list.

I guess what I am getting at is what is the probability that this lower level is just a bump in the road or is the likelihood that his body did not react to the ATG and that a bone marrow transplant is in the future?