counts dropping

[KathyM]

Can anyone give me some words of encouragement. Dennis had his MUD transplant on April 24th. There have been a few bumps here and there but overall he's doing really well.

The past few weeks his wbc have dropped, he got neuprogin shots each week but today he had his clinic visit and they dropped again. The platelets are also dropping.

I'm getting really worried. They ran a lot of tests today to check for viruses and also did a bone marrow biopsy. We won't have the results until next Tuesday.

It just seems that I've read so often that those 2 particular counts dropping could possibly mean a relapse.

Has any one experienced this and had it straighten itself out in the long run?

[Neil Cuadra]

Between 2 and 3 months after my wife's MUD transplant her WBC dropped from 7.5 to 3.4, her platelets from 44 to 19, and her HGB dropped as well. We were really worried, as you can imagine, and she had another biopsy to looks for clues. But over the next few weeks her counts came back up on their own. The doctor wasn't able to explain the drops in her blood counts nor the rebound, but we were glad to make it back to the road to recovery. I hope that your experience is the same post-transplant temporary dip, to be followed by recovered counts. Perhaps his doctor will want to adjust his immunosuppressants, but know that you aren't alone in having this seeming setback months after a transplant.