[Chirley]

Hi Murphy, I have seen Dr Kerry Taylor too. I have also seen Trevor Olsen, Ashish ? Misra, Dr Catley and a couple of others (forgotten their names). They all say that I have a definite iron deficiency anaemia but that I also have a blood picture which suggests that I have myelodysplasia as well. Bone marrow biopsies sometimes show that I have no iron stores and sometimes show that I have normal iron stores. The bone marrow biopsies that show normal iron stores still show that I produce red cells in normal numbers but the cells don't mature properly and don't carry haemaglobin. There has been no explanation to me about the low white cell count. The only cell line that is always normal is the platelets. I have a brother who has lupus and he gets a very profound thrombocytopenia from time to time. He has platelet transfusions sometimes but his body destroys the donated platelets very fast and the only treatment that helps him then is high dose steroids.He is now 56 and this has been happening to him since he was 11. I also have a couple of cousins with auto immune diseases and a family history of hodgkins lymphoma. I personally think that I have some weird auto immune disease and not MDS but I can't discount it either. I always thought that medicine was an exact science but I realise now that things aren't always black or white and there are lots of shades of grey in between. Bye for now. Chirley