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When Ken had surgery to remove a basal cell carcinoma from his eyelid, it became infected and the doctor prescribed Bactrim (Septra). Imagine my surprise when I looked up the possible side effects and found aplastic anemia listed as one of them! I called the hem/onc dept. pharmacist and asked him if there was a safe substitute. He told me that practically all antibiotics carry that risk, just because of the way they work. He said some are worse than others, though, and recommended switching to Cephalexin.
The Bactrim thing really surprised me, given that many AA patients are routinely prescribed it for PCP prophylaxis! Doesn't this seem like a bad idea? Ken's doctor doesn't believe in routine prophylaxis, so he's never taken any.
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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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