Hi, my name is Linda and I live in North Austin, Texas in a subdivision called Lago Vista. I am 38 years old, happily married for 10 years, and have a 6 year old daughter. I think this all began when I was pregnant with her. When I went in to have her, they told me my hemoglobin was 6 and platelets 60, 000, so I had a c-section under general anesthesia. I am a NICU nurse, so I know enough to scare me! After my daughter was born, they gave me Epogen shots, but they didn't work, so I was followed by different hematologists for 6 years and had 3 biopsy's, until I got diagnosed Feb 5 2007 at Medical City Dallas by Dr. Vikas Bhushan. I'm wondering if I've had this disease all these years, and just now someone knew what they were looking at, so I finally got diagnosed. I've been really bummed out at times, sometimes cry on the way home from work, but usually have a positive outlook, because I know that's the only way to get better. Dr. Bhushan said he thinks I have moderately severe idiopathic aplastic anemia, and will need ATG, cyclosporine, and prednisone first, then a stem cell transplant later. I'm an only child, and half Japanese, half Irish American, so finding a donor match will be difficult. My insurance company (Humana) through my job (HCA) sucks, they won't pay for a donor search or match, so I'm going to NIH April 3, to see Dr. Neal Young to try to get onto a study. Lately, I've had shortness of breath, and have missed work because of it. I just want to feel like my old self again. I would love to talk with anyone else who has this disease, who might be able to share some words of wisdom. Noone else understands (or wants to hear) about what I'm going through, they all just say, "why don't you take some iron pills or B12), and I can't get upset, they are just trying to help. Anyone?