itching and AA

[Lynn del]

I have had AA for 10 years this June and 5 years ago I started to become itchy and get rashes when I came into contact with feathers (down) and very strong colognes ie AXE and the same type. I have gone to allergist to no avail. Now my tongue and throat will swell if I smell chemicals and whatever else. I don't know what to do. Before the ATG I really didn't have any allergies. Now my counts are dropping really fast and I'm looking for a donor for BMT. I'm not on any meds for AA but have transfusions every month, if I can hold out a month now. My platelets now are 4000, and red cells around 6, white around 2, humacrit between 14 - 17.
My brother is being cross matched now, but if he's not a match do you think my children could be a match?
Any info would really help -- thanks --Lynn

[Neil Cuadra]

Lynn,

It sounds like you and your doctors don't know whether or not the itching and rash are related to having AA, having had ATG years ago, or to your blood counts. Either way, the question is what to do about it.

Since your counts are dropping quickly, something has changed since you were more stable. What has your hematologist done to look for the reason or check if your diagnosis has changed? Have you had another diagnostic bone marrow biopsy? Have you discussed the possibility of having another round of ATG? (Rabbit not horse this time, since you said in a previous post that you had serum sickness from horse ATG.)

About finding a match for a transplant: Among your relatives, your brother is your most likely HLA match. Statistically, there's about a 25% chance of him matching you, but statistics don't mean a thing when there's only one person involved. He either matches you or he doesn't.

If your brother doesn't match you, there's a slimmer chance that one of your children will match you, but it's possible. That's more likely if you and your husband came from very similar backgrounds (ethnicity and region) than if you came from different backgrounds. In the same way, if your mother and father came from similar backgrounds then that increases the chances of a match with a living parent.

However, if your brother doesn't match you then you may have a better chance of finding a match in the bone marrow donor registry than a match in the family, because there are millions of people in the registry. Even though the chances of a particular stranger matching you are very slim, you get millions of chances.

Please tell us what you learn from your hematologist, from your brother's HLA testing, and from a registry search if they do one. You'll need to be armed with that information as you consider a transplant and any other options you have.