new member from the netherlands

From: erica smits
Email: erica.smits@student.uva.nl
Date: 7/7/2001
Time: 4:11:35 PM
Remote Name: 212.64.21.231

Comments

Hello everybody. I have registered 2 minutes ago as a new member, all the way from The Hague, The Netherlands. I am 21 years old and I study theatrestudies at the university of Amsterdam. I will tell you a little bit of my experiences with aplastic anemia. But, as a warning, English is not my mother tongue, so you'll have to excuse me for any mistakes in my language. January 18th, I went to see my family doctor, wondering not worrying about my bruises and my seeing pale and some other things I had noticed in the week before. She did some tests and almost turned pale herself. She told me I had to go to the hospital immediately to get some transfusions. That is when things started. I was admitted to the hospital at Leiden (Netherlands) with only 3 platelets, normal count being between 100 and 300 and a RBC of 3,5, normal being 6,5-8. (we express ourselves a bit different in Holland than you in America) Now, one-and-a-half year later and been through one ATG-treatment and some transfusions in the beginning and been stuffed with prednison, antibiotics, cyclosporine, G-CSF and a whole list of other medicines, it seemed as if I had nailed the little bugger. RBC on 8, WBC on 4.5 and platelets about 90, I was a happy student taking only 25 mg of cyclosporine a day. Until a couple a weeks ago, it turned out that all of my counts had dropped. Yesterday, my hematologist did a bone marrow biopsy (my third by now) and I'm back on 275 mg cyclosporine a day. My doctor has good hope that the cyclosporine will do the trick, otherwise we will repeat the ATG-treatment. It is a very big disappointment for me. I was getting used to this happy-student-thing again. But, I am NOT giving up. My parents, my boyfriend and my friends are a big support, and as one of my friends said; I have beat this once and I can do it again. Well, this is a little introduction on me. I hope to get to know you and be able to exchange experiences with you and knowing I am not the only one coping with this disease.