Thread: New to SAA
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Old Sun Jul 3, 2016, 11:45 AM
Neil Cuadra Neil Cuadra is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Los Angeles, California
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Sarah,

I'm sorry to hear that you've been diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia, and that a language issue makes it hard to communicate with the doctor.

Hopeful is correct that you'll have to take this diagnosis seriously. SAA (severe aplastic anemia) is more serious than MAA (moderate aplastic anemia) but not as dire as VSAA (very severe aplastic anemia). I don't know if the diagnosis cutoffs are the same in Spain as in the U.S. but it's still an indication of how serious the problem is. The "severe" in SAA usually indicates that two or three of your blood lines (red cells, white cells, or platelets) are noticeably low. Your fatigue and shortness of breath match the symptoms of an abnormally low red blood cell count.

Reading stories like those you'll find in these forums can show how SAA affects patients, but you'll want to start with authoritative information. The Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation is the best source of information I know. Their AA page covers the basics, and you can get more details by having them send you their educational materials (click on Aplastic Anemia in the "Bone marrow failure disease" box).

While reading about AA, I suggest that you write down questions to have your husband ask the doctor for you. One of them should be whether you are a candidate for antithymocyte globulin (ATG), as Hopeful mentions.

Good luck getting the information you need.
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