[Hawaii Bill]

Lisa, thanks for your reply. It is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.

IF I had horse the first go-round (still waiting for a definitive answer from the hospital), then the idea of using horse again makes sense because I had a good response the first time, from a BM cellularity of 0 to better than 50% in three months, and counts that recovered for 6 months before they started declining again. It probably was the CsA taper that caused the relapse. I had 5 days of ATG, and as I mentioned, Dr Paquette mentioned the dosage I got was not standard.

I will definitely bring up the 10 day approach with my doctor. How long did Ken have to stay in the hospital after the 10 days??

The Cyclo dose is interesting. I don't know how much I was given via IV on the 5 days I received it along with the ATG. But afterward, I was taking 300mg twice a day for at least 3 months. According to Dr Maj's article, the dosage for me, at 109 kilos, would be between 1308-1635 mg daily, for six months. I may have been given less because back then I was taking Diltiazem for my chronic tachycardia, and diltiazem is known to increase CsA levels... This time around, that should not be an issue, as I had my atrial flutter problem fixed last August with a cardiac ablation. I remember I was very glad to get the CsA dose lowered, as I was tired of the upset stomach it caused at that level.

I've been on CsA at 200 mg bid for 3 months now to see if it could bring back my counts, but the best it might have done is extend time a little between transfusions, which is great, but not enough.