[Lisa V]

Bobbye, it's impossible to predict how your sister will react to the ATG, but it isn't necessarily painful, so don't assume that it will be. What seems to be fairly standard is some heavy-duty chills and fever and general flu-like achiness following the first day's infusion. They gave my husband Tylenol for that and it passed in a few hours. After that he had no discomfort from the treatment, although he felt tired and slept a lot. They give Benadryl as part of the pre-conditioning and it kind of knocks you out. Just as well, you have to get your sleep when you can in that kind of setting because they're always coming in and doing something, day or night.

He hated being cooped up in a hospital room for days too, and got pretty depressed. I'd come and make him get up and walk the halls with me, so at least he'd get a little excercise. As Connie said, it gets really cold in those rooms too, so a sweatshirt or extra wrap and some socks are a good thing to have. Also a robe from home, unless she doesn't mind walking around in a hospital gown.

It is likely her counts will go down before they come up again. ATG tends to "eat up" platelets, so she may need to be transfused often. The worst part of the regimen for Ken was the prednisone. It made him really irritable and made food taste funny. This became more noticeable once he got home, when he'd been on it for a while. Other people may get an increase in appetite with it, but he couldn't stand the taste of most things, so it's an individual thing. It also gave him thrush (oral yeast infection), and of course the puffy face, which I think everyone gets. It all goes away as soon as you stop taking it though, and it does help prevent serum sickness.

Cyclosporine is also a part of the regimen, and there may be side-effects to that too, like hand tremors and extra hair growth. If she's getting Neupogen that can cause some bone pain too. I don't think it's usually extreme, but then I'm not the one who had it so I can't swear to that.

I guess the best thing you can do is just be there and be supportive and try to create as much of an atmosphere of normalcy as you can. It also helps to take notes and ask questions of the medical staff and try to gain a better understanding of what they're doing and why. Often this is too much for the patient themself to cope with, especially if they're kind of out of it with all the Benadryl and other meds going in, so having an advocate is a very useful thing.