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Old Mon Mar 7, 2011, 01:47 PM
Lisa V Lisa V is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Waimanalo, Hawaii
Posts: 401
Your doctor sounds well qualified to make a diagnosis and treatment decisions, Edith. You could still ask her to consult with Dr. Maciejewski, but if tests show that your son is SAA rather than MAA, and if his sister is not a match, I'm sure he would recommend ATG too. That is by the book.

Sometimes it's actually better not to have too much time to think about it. When my husband was diagnosed, his counts were so low by the time he started showing symptoms (retinal hemmorhaging) that they admitted him directly to the hospital. This was on a Sunday, he got his diagnosis on Monday, and started ATG on Wednesday, which was as soon as they could get the serum. We didn't know what hit us and had virtually no time to process it or weigh the options. We didn't even have a computer, so I couldn't go online and look it up, but by the time I was able to get more information, it was clear they had done the right thing. No regrets here.

I shudder to think what might have happened had his blurred vision not sent us to the ER. He had petichiae and bruising too, but hadn't paid much attention to it as he often gets bruised on the job. The ER doctor actually turned pale when she saw his blood test results. His platelets were at 8k and his hemoglobin at 6.4. She was shocked he was still walking around, but he felt fine!
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-Lisa, husband Ken age 60 dx SAA 7/04, dx hypo MDS 1/06 w/finding of trisomy 8; 2 ATGs, partial remission, still using cyclosporine
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