It is late on the 4th of July and Ryan was really
upset earlier that he couldn't be at home watching fireworks. He was able to see a few small bursts out the
window, but unfortunately, with his neutrophil count being so low, he is
confined to his hospital room to avoid infection, so we couldn't go down the
hall for a better view.
Tonight is the first of four nights of his antithymocyte globulin (ATG) chemo treatment.
ATG is made from horse serum and is intended to severely suppress the
immune system so that his T Cells quit attacking the blood cells that his bone
marrow tries to make. There will likely
be side effects similar to the chemo
treatment patients receive for cancer (nausea, vomiting, fatigue, etc.)
Prior to starting the
treatment, they gave Ryan IV steroids and Benedryl to help prevent an allergic
reaction. There is a risk that he could
go into anaphylaxis, so the nurse stayed in the room for about a half hour to
monitor him as the treatment started.
Here is some information regarding immunosuppressive therapy to treat
Aplastic Anemia that I found on the American Cancer Society Website:
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