[KMac]

...one other thing, so far as watching for signs of response - looking back I think I had subtle signs in my blood tests signifying that I was responding. Namely, my RDW (red cell distribution width) and MCV (mean red cell volume) started to rise significantly above the normal range. Along with that, they started flagging occasional blasts in the peripheral blood, nucleated red blood cells, and other abnormalities in my blood tests.

If you google all of these things, it isn't comforting, as they often signify things like MDS and leukemia. So of course that scared the crap out of me at the time. However, I have a wonderful doctor and he explained it to me differently, and he was correct in my case. He basically said, "your marrow is fighting for it's life to produce blood, it is probably 1) creating large cells to make up for the lack of cells (hence the high MCV and RDW) and 2) occasionally making some mistakes (hence the other abnormalities in my tests)."

...in short, our blood donors in all likelihood have normally sized and shaped blood cells, so abnormalities in MCV and RDW probably mean it's blood from our own marrow showing up, which in aplastic anemia response is likely a good sign.

Also, glad your son's headaches have improved some with the decrease in cyclosporine.