[BobbyJD]

You are not alone. My sister had serum sickness unfortunately and I believe it lasted for at least a couple weeks post ATG. The first several weeks, even couple months are tough. There are so many meds and your body is going through a lot, but it does get better. Your almost there, from what I remember once the serum sickness past and my sister was off all the steroids and other various meds she improved quickly and was back to her normal self. Just remained on cyclosporine for a year but that usually becomes very tolerable for most people.

As for the transplant, from what I've read and heard, if there is absolutely no response by 6 months post ATG its considered a failure. The important thing is seeing any improvement at all, it does not have to be significant it just has to be a step in the right direction. Some people, like my sister, have counts that rise quickly in 4 - 6 months almost to normal, others it does take a year or more but as long as they are moving in the right direction you are in good shape. Our Dr. always mentions BMT as a last resort, unless your very young (sub 30) and have a sibling match. Get another opinion from another Dr. that specializes in AA if you are uncomfortable. If you don't need transfusions and you can manage the meds with counts that are just enough your doing ok in the AA sense. I feel only transfusion dependent people with dire counts should only be considering BMT. hope this helps. good luck