hi...am from the Philippines. I was also diagnosed of ET last December 2005. I underwent a bone marrow biopsy. I chosed to be confined over night in the hospital and was under sedation and local anesthesia when my doctor did the procedure. So far, i didnt experience any side effect. The anesthesiologist was good.
There was no symptom at all. I just had my annual executive check up last November '05. Then the results was too bad. My platelet count was 844 and my spleen was slightly enlarged. I didnt go only to one hematologist. I requested for a second opinion. After the procedure, I went back after a month for another CBC-platelet count test. There, it went up to 948. It was so scary. My doctor said that there is no cure for this disease, just a maintenance. She wanted me to take the Anagleride .5mg for 3 x a day. I was shocked when she said that one tablet costs P300.00. Imagine that?? for an average employee who's just receiving less than P30,000.00 monthly income. I asked for an alternative medicine. She gave me hydroxyurea. I was just to take it 2x a day for 3 weeks since she said everything will be affected not only the platelet count. After 3 weeks, I came back to my doctor and had my monthly CBC-platelet. Surprisingly, it went down to 600. My hemaglobin went down also to the border line. So she asked me to stop taking the medicine. The following month, it went down again, this time to 540. been praying to God, and I believe this is an answered prayer. For me, it's a miracle.