9 weeks post ATG improving counts or just hopeful?

[Bishbop]

Hi everyone, i am new to this forum.

I was just wondering if I'm looking to much in to this or if my counts are improving slightly and what experiences other people had.

I was told that it's likely that if you are going to respond to ATG the first thing you would see is your WBC improving, I'm still twice weekly platelet transfusion dependent and blood around ever 2 weeks ish

I get a print out of my results once per week (I'm not sure I should as I over analyse everything) my WBC dropped after my steroids finished to 0.65 this is where it stayed for a couple of weeks but the last three weeks it has been, 0.83, 0.85 then 0.87, I know these are still very low (I have VSAA) but that looks like it's going in the right direction maybe? I just wonder what other peoples experiences are? Do the levels just fluctuate or do you think this is a good sign?

I have a bone marrow biopsy booked for September (3 month mark) and I guess I'm just being impatient, but as anyone with AA will know your always looking for a bit of hope, looking forward to your response xxx

[Amz904]

Hey Bishbop,
I received hATG the second week of Jan 2014, and I remember feeling very similar to you when I saw even the slightest rise in my WBC, when I was two months post ATG I would see roughly a 0.1 rise in my WBC every 2-3 weeks. Some weeks it would drop a little but then recover back up again by the next lab.

I would take any increase as a positive sign (even if its a small one!) since you can't expect your counts to jump over night, even though that would be great At first my WBCs climbed incredibly slow, but as of more recently (5-6 months post ATG) they have started to rise a lot faster.

To give you some insight on my experience, here's how my labs trended over the last few months:


WBC (range per month)
feb: >0.1-0.1
march: 0.2-0.4
april: 0.5-0.7
may: 0.8-1.1
june: 1.2-2.1
july: 2.2-2.9


ANC (what it was at the end of each month)
feb: 0.02
march: 0.10
april: 0.27
may: 0.59
june: 1.25
july: 1.74


RBC (units per month)
feb: 14
march: 8
april: 3
may: 2
june: 2
july: 0


Platelets (units per month)
feb: 9
march: 6
april: 5
may: 4
june: 0
july: 0


Hope this helps a little!

[Bishbop]

Thanks so much for your reply, it does help always good to feel positive, just don't want my dreams shattered so not looking to much in to it, I will be having a BMB soon so that may show something up x