Monday, December 1, 2008

Aplastic Anemia Awareness Week

Dec. 1 - 7 is Aplastic Anemia Awareness Week. Learn more here and, if you have been blessed with the health to do so, consider becoming a blood or bone marrow donor.

Dec. 5, coincidentally, is the 3rd anniversary of my aplastic anemia diagnosis, so this is very timely. I have been fortunate enough to go into and stay in remission, but I've gotten varying medical opinions on whether to expect it to return, and there's still always that panicky little gremlin in the back of my mind every time I get blood counts done. I know folks who are on their 3rd or 4th go-round with the stuff, and one teenage girl who has had it since age 2 (she's now 19 and looks to be facing her second bone marrow transplant). It's scary for all involved, not just the patient!

1 comment:

Engineering Goddess said...

Although my disease hasn't put me in the hospital or anything, I can certainly relate to your fears after seeing people who have gone through 3 or 4 rounds with your disease. It's like for me going to get chemotherapy and seeing women who were there again after a recurrance from 5 to 15 years earlier. Blah. I suppose I'd get on the hamster wheel again and take it for a spin but the though of doing so makes my eye twitch.