Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopeful
Hi Matthew42,
You may want to use this time to get yet another opinion from an AA expert. Giving a second round of ATG may make sense if it was felt that the immune attack was still going on in full-force. I am not sure how they can definitively tell this though.
Having such frequent RBC transfusion is concerning. Is your mom fighting a virus now?
Has she been tested for PNH?
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Well, the doctor never said that treatment was successful: she only said that ATG is working, but will it be enough in the coming months? There are signs that things are getting better, but there are no guarantees that this ATG will bring her over the hump. She said that my mother could wait several more months to see if the horse-ATG will work (because sometimes it can take over a year or so to get off RBC transfusions), but she doesn't want her on RBC transfusions that long because of her age and iron overload. This is the reason for wanting a second ATG so soon, if I understand the hematologist well.
She has had genetic testing, but everything has been normal thusfar (no PNH, etc.).
She has no infection at all. Her blood work has been perfect, except for low hemoglobin, platelets and neutrophils. It's all really bizarre.
I don't like her getting RBC transfusions every 7-9 days, but she has no choice. The doctor won't let her go under 7.5, but usually doctors don't transfuse to about 7.0 or under. If that had been the case, she would have had probably 2 or 3 less RBC transfusions so far since ATG.
She's had 11 RBC transfusions since ATG, which was administered 16 weeks ago. She averages about 3 RBC transfusions a month since ATG. In July, she almost made it with just 2, until the last day of the month. LOL.
They believe that my mother's aplastic anemia was brought on by 2 different medications, and then Covid-19 made it severe. They can't prove it, but that is the thinking. She is quite old for aplastic anemia, they said. They really scrutinized her bone marrow biopsies (had three). And everything came back each time: SAA.
That's all for now.
Please take care.