My move to the West Coast has meant spending most of my time seeing doctors. A good bone marrow transplant demands preparation. But when there is some down time, it’s spent with my caregiver. She’s the only person I know out here. She’s also my mother. She has a thing for asking me questions about [...]
Shawntell Taylor is a survivor. She was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia in 2004 has since underwent three unsuccessful interventions, including two rounds of ATG. Taylor explains in the above clip she also had two unrelated donors “cancel on me.”
Like I said, Shawntell Taylor is a survivor.
In October I posted my letter of appeal after Blue Cross Blue Shield’s told me it would not cover my bone marrow donor search. After hearing no response for several weeks I resent the letter certified and finally heard back. The verdict was…there was no verdict.
My appeal was not reviewed because I did not provide [...]
Here’s a short feature on Matt Fioretti at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance website. Fioretti, a mountain climber and guide, was diagnosed with aplastic anemia a short time after leading a climb along Nirekha Peak, in the Himalayas.
When reflecting on the bone marrow transplant he eventually underwent he says, “My attitude was good. There were [...]
In October I issued a letter of appeal to my insurance company after they denied coverage for a bone marrow donor search(read the appeal here). After receiving nothing back for weeks, I took the advice of a friend’s father and resent the letter certified. It cost $5.40 but did force a response, couldn’t use the [...]
Often I’m asked by friends or family to explain aplastic anemia, and often I find myself stumbling over words, trying to produce a clear picture. Sure, I can say my bone marrow is failing to produce adequate amounts of blood but visualizing that is tough. The above video from Johns Hopkins does a nice job [...]
Its been 140 days since ATG treatment, and as of now it has been unsuccessful. The treatment is based in the thought that aplastic anemia is an autoimmune disease—the bodies white blood cells have attacked it’s bone marrow, causing the marrow to fail and blood production to diminish. Since onset I’ve heard a variety of numbers [...]
A reader posted a comment awhile back about the hospital experience of her mother, who was just diagnosed with aplastic anemia. Briefly what happened:
“… the hospital attempted to discharge her. They indicated that she could receive the treatment for aplastic anemia on an outpatient basis. My sister challenged that as being unacceptable based on the [...]
Many of myPICCLine.com’s readers are those who have themselves been, or had family or friends diagnosed with aplastic anemia (AA). There isn’t much patient perspective information out there, deciding against sharing the stories or wise words others have passed along would be a disservice to the entire community.
Below is a recently received e-mail.
Q: I was diagnosed with aplastic anemia two years ago, and have struggled with some of the adjustments. What has been the hardest adjustment for you to cope with? What do you do to deal with it?
There isn’t a particular aspect of aplastic anemia(AA) that jumps out at me as the absolute worst. Many of [...]
A. Anemia News
