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Old Tue Oct 16, 2012, 12:47 AM
Neil Cuadra Neil Cuadra is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Los Angeles, California
Posts: 2,553
Quote:
Originally Posted by hopeful_AAgirl View Post
Hi! I'm karen claire...
Hi Karen.

Unlike many of the patients we meet here, you are already a long-term survivor despite being young.

Did one doctor say that you have aplastic anemia and another doctor say that you don't? Do you ever have trouble with your white count or just with your platelets and red blood cell count? Have you had a bone marrow biopsy? If so what did the results show?

I hope you find a doctor who will work with you and with whom you feel very comfortable. I'm sure you've heard that you must always tell your doctor about medicine you are taking or not taking, because otherwise they can't give you the appropriate advice. You want a doctor you can be totally honest with. Your doctor can test your iron levels to know whether or not you need to go back to a drug like Exjade. If you need it, take it. If you don't, that's fine, and you'll just need to be tested now and then to see if your iron levels go up again.

From your comments about your parents I think you are a normal 24-year-old. I don't know a lot about the lives of young adults in the Philippines but parents are mostly the same everywhere. Some parents are overprotective of their children as they go through their teens and twenties, and they have to learn to let go. When a child has a disease like aplastic anemia, parents have an even stronger impulse to protect them. But keep in mind that they want what's best for you, and since they've lived longer they've learned things that they can teach you. You can each learn from each other and should respect each other.

You might tell your parents that they don't have to worry about whether or not your boyfriend can take care of you because YOU can take care of yourself. Then you can prove it by telling them what you plan to do about your aplastic anemia: which doctor you are going to work with, what your latest test results mean, how you will decide on the next treatment to use, and so on. Teach your boyfriend about aplastic anemia so he can be part of your team too, and so he can talk about it with your family. Meanwhile, continue to plan your future, whether it's school or a startup business, and talk about that with your family too. If you are confident about managing yourself and about what you want for your future then I think your parents will start believing in it too!
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