I’m glad to read your wife is regaining some normal functions after her stroke. That had to be frightening for both of you!

Telling your family about your diagnosis is certainly a personal choice. There’s quite a bit on your plate already with aiding in the care of your wife. Since you don’t have a treatment plan yet and are sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop, you might end up with a lot of questions you can’t answer for your family at this time.

But you may need them in the future if you go ahead with a BMT. You’ll need to have a full time caregiver for a length of time. Your wife may not be able to meet the challenges of accompany you to appointments, overseeing meals, self care, etc. I’m not trying to frighten you, but it is the cold reality of the first few months after a BMT.

Regarding your MDS diagnosis and exercise.
Moderate exercise is good. You want to maintain as normal and healthy a lifestyle as possible. But you don’t want to overdo things either. If you become fatigued then listen to your body and rest or back off in the intensity. If you require treatment in the future, the healthier you are going into treatment can help with mental attitude and recovery..

Do you recall in your previous blood tests the mention of the term, blasts? These are immature blood cells that become specialized cells as they mature inside the bone marrow. There are generally only a very minimal amount that would show up in a blood smear from labs as they tend to stay in the bone marrow. As the percentage of blasts change in blood work that may determine the need for treatment timing.

If blasts are found in circulating blood it can be an indication of an over-proliferation of the immature cells. As they reproduce out of control, they eventually overcrowd all the other healthy blood cells and then enter the blood stream. Usually there is a mutated gene which doesn’t allow the cell production to switch off.

What were your symptoms that led to the diagnosis? Do you remember seeing a mutation listed in your blood work?