Thank you for the advice. I do always bring a list of questions but asking them to document our concerns is a very good tip. I will be sure to do that next time.
They did do a bone marrow biopsy. The local doctor did the biopsy but by the time he consulted with the doctor at Yale he had already started prednisone and then cyclosporine which had "affected" the results. The Yale doctor said he wished he had blood "slides" or "smears" that hadn't been "affected" by the cyclosporine since it would have given him a better understanding of what was going on. The local doctor dx her the first time with CLL and then changed it to AA and then the Yale doctor wasn't positive that it was AA. We do know it is auto immune and I'm sure we will know more when we talk to Yale. He does specialize in MDS,AA and bone marrow failure diseases....I researched him.
It is scary, we trust our loved ones with these doctors and we hope that they are doing whats best and we hope that if they aren't able to that they will put us in the care of someone who does. We aren't doctors and we have a lot of questions...some seem obviouse and some may even be silly but it is their job to help us know what they know so that we can be a good and better informed patient. They should treat us as if we were their mother or their son. To me it's a no brainer...you may be a doctor but you are a human being, I hope.
I'm glad you and your son were able to find a good doctor. Thanks again for the information!
