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[ASQ]

Hi All
Just thought I would say hello . I am the husband of a 58 year old , who was diagnosed this week with SAA . She is currently on weekly transfusions to tide her over until treatment begins in earnest . We are UK based .
Cheers ASQ

[Neil Cuadra]

Welcome, ASQ.

I'm sorry to hear that your wife has aplastic anemia, and especially that it's in the severe category. I hope that she's seeing a hematologist with AA experience.

Do you know what treatment she'll be receiving? What's the reason for the delay?

[ASQ]

Hi Neil, The heamatologist who is treating Annette ( my wife) seems to be on the ball . He told us after viewing blood results it was likely to be AA or MDS and ordered BMA and BMB tests . After viewing results he said it was in conclusive . He explained the BMB was very Aplastic and though he thought it was AA he wanted to wait for cytogenetic test results . To rule out Hypocellular MDS .They came back normal , with no chromosomal abnormalities .
He was happy to diagnose SAA . However he went on to say he won't be treating Annette , she will receive treatment at a larger hospital that has more experience of AA and MDS . It is also the regional centre for SCT ( both siblings have already been tested for bone marrow match) . As the the heamatologist put it he might see one case of AA every 5 years , the bigger hospital one a year . So we are waiting for an appointment at the regional hospital . Annette is receiving weekly transfusions at local hospital . So that's where we are up to . We feel Annette is getting good treatment , she just wants to get on with it now .
Cheers ASQ

[ASQ]

Originally Posted by Neil Cuadra

Welcome, ASQ.

I'm sorry to hear that your wife has aplastic anemia, and especially that it's in the severe category. I hope that she's seeing a hematologist with AA experience.

Do you know what treatment she'll be receiving? What's the reason for the delay?

Hi again Neil Forgot to say first line treatment is going to be AtG and cyclosporine .
ASQ

[Neil Cuadra]

ASQ,

Your wife's care sounds on-target so far. My wife was also referred to a major treatment center from our local hospital, where her treatment with ATG and cyclosporine was started almost immediately after we met with her new hematologist.

From the reports we hear in these forums, ATG treatment usually goes smoothly, although it's sometimes necessary to adjust pre-medications or the rate of infusion after the first treatment, to minimize allergic reactions. The treatment is not likely to produce instant results. Instead, you look for blood counts to trend upward during recovery.

I hope it goes well for you.

[ASQ]

Thanks for your kind words Neil . The consultant did say it could be a long haul , may be as much as a year . The one thing that was a bit of a fly in the ointment was he said the treating consultant might call it differently . We took that to mean Hypocellular MDS . I asked if you can have both . The reply was there can be an overlap
Regards ASQ