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I was doing research, and I found out that if a person goes without a blood transfusion (not platelet line) for around 3 weeks or more right after having received ATG, it is proof of a response to immunosuppressant therapy. I am saying this as my mother indeed went over three weeks without blood after she got ATG.
Now, it's been over a year since ATG, and she is still getting weekly platelet transfusions. Her blood line is highly unpredictable: a few months ago, she went three weeks without blood, and then needed blood weekly for a month; after that, shewent almost 2 weeks for a month, and now she is needing it every week I have no clue what is going on.
Her neutrophils were 1200 for 4 months, and now they're 500-600. We can't get any answers. We were just told to wait several more months. If things don't change by this fall, Dr. Young would recommend Campath. He told my mother's doctor that she did indeed respond to immunosuppressant therapy (especially in the neutrophil line). He thinks she may be a very, very slow responder to ATG, and could end up responding 1.5- 2 years later (which happens sometimes, especially in older people). We shall see. You never know.
Her platelet line is the only line where there was never any change since ATG. But her doctor told us that platelets are the most stubborn of the three lines. A person can still have extremely low platelets for many months, even if neutrophils and blood come up.
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