[carolyn]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this site. I was diagnosed with aa in 1999 when I was 14, i'm now 24. In 1999 I had recurrent tonsilitis treated with courses of antibiotics and was found to be 'mildly pancytopenic'. I went on to have a BMB aspirate and trephine which showed an increase in megakaryocytes but an overall hypocellular trephine for my age. Antigranulocyte and antiplatelet antibodies were negative, chromosone and immunological studies were described as inconclusive. I have copied this off an old letter - i don't fully understand what it really means, even after ten yrs. When I was younger I never worried about the AA, my mum never made a big deal of it and the heamotologists I saw always told me my counts were ok and to try and lead a normal life.

In 2007 I got a bad flu while skiing and on my return to London was admitted to hospital with neutropenic sepsis, my ANC was 0.8, dropped to 0.5 and I was in hospital for a week - they allowed me to go hom when my ANC got up to 0.9. I was'nt given any treatment apart from antibiotics. Ever since then I've become increasingly worried about the AA.

My original diagnosis was this - Myeloplastic Anaemia with possible myelodyplastic features. I am still not on an treatment, I have my counts monitored by Heamotologist every 3-6 months depending on how good they are.

My counts at best are HB 13, Neutrophils, 2.5, Platelets, 126, reticulocytes 14 they tend to fluctuate between this and HB 13, Neturophils 1, Platelets 100. They sort of go up and down on their own. I had a baby girl last August, and responded well to pregnancy my counts were 'normal' throughout it was great! Towards the last 2 weeks of pregnancy my platelets dropped to 80 bit then went back up to 100 on the day of delivery.

Now that I'm a mum I think more and more about the AA as I really want to stick around to watch my daughter grow up! The diagnosis of possible myelodyplastic features scares me. I havnt had a BMB since 1999 because the doctors say theres no need unless my counts drop. Has anyone had any experience with this sort of problem? Or can anyone help explain to me what the original findings from my BMB (above) mean?

Thanks so much.

Carolyn