[KMac]

Hi Curlygirl,

Those are excellent questions, and ones I've had myself.

In short, I believe the answers are 'yes' to all of them. When I was on prednisone, it raised my WBC, and the same thing when I get sick. My doctor feels that is a good sign. Even though my WBC runs quite low usually, it rises when I get sick. It shows the marrow has a reserve of white cells when needed. For example, last month I had a sore throat and my ANC was 2040. It clear up on its own without treatment. This month I feel better, and my ANC was only 560 last week.

And with 'abnormal' cells, I think when they say the cells are normal with SAA, they mean genetically normal (i.e. no cells that signify MDS, PNH, or leukemia). But morphologically, they are often still of unusual shapes and sizes, as the marrow fights to produce whatever it can. I go into more detail specifically about my experience with that on my Aug 21st posts in the 'Headache after ATG, on oral steroids and cyclosporine' thread, if you want take a look at that.

In the months immediately following ATG, my CBC reports almost always showed abnormal cells. Now, 18 months post-treatment, the morphology of my blood is much more normal.

Also, I did have abnormal platelets too, in that they were often small or fragmented. At least one other SAA patient at my hospital had abnormal platelets, and our doctor did not feel it was a cause for additional concern.