[Lisa V]

I think your doctor's just being cautious, Ryan. While your counts do look promising, they are far from definitive........ yet. All lines can and do fluctuate, and the amount of change you're seeing is not outside the realm of everyday fluctuations.

WBCs in particular can shoot up (or down) in response to a cold or infection, in fact we actually had the opposite problem when Ken had his second ATG. His WBC shot way up during treatment, and he felt sick as a dog, whereas his first one had gone fairly smoothly. I knew something was wrong, but his doctor interpreted the rise as a response, and the fever, vomiting and diarrhea as a serum reaction. It wasn't. It was a C. difficile infection. After they finally figured that out and cleared it up, his white count dropped back down again. I'm not saying you have an infection, just that this is the type of thing that can cloud interpretation. I wish his doc had looked at other possibilities before assuming it was a response. It was way too soon.

On the other hand, 45 days is not too soon, and the fact that both your WBCs and Plts are moving steadily upwards instead of up and down is a very good sign! Just keep in mind, though, that the clinical definition of "response" to ATG is transfusion independence. Hopefully you are moving in that direction, but until you get there, I can understand his reluctance to call it too soon.