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MDS 80 yr old male
My dad is 80 yrs old...last July he got sick with pneumonia...admitted to hosp and labs were off. After a month or so a d not bouncing back he had a bone marrow bx done...it was MDS. He started with Aranisep with dudnt help..then started Rebolsys for several months and weekly blood transfusions..he has had by this time at least 45 transfusions.. we had decided that medicine was not helping so we had a port placed about 3 weeks ago and he started Vidaza...it wiped him out after 7 days of treatment hgb was 4.4 and platelets dropped to 4...he was admitted in ICU and started having major bloody stools...had 5 to 6 more blood transfusions and 5 units of platelets...after 5 days in hosp today his hgb is 7.4 and platlets 17. It has been awful with the up and down..iam at a loss...I feel if he has another round of vidaza that will be the end....iam wondering how does a bone marrow transplant work and what is the pre requirements consist of...at one time his oncologist said it was not an option and now I'm wondering why? I don't think Vidaza is an option at this point...HELP...
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Hi @jenn2458. I think today is a follow-up appointment for your dad with his oncologist. I hope there’s some encouraging news for him with continued upswing in his blood numbers and a decrease in the blast cells!
I know you’ve got a great deal on your mind right now but it would really be encouraging for you and your father, I think, to read through all of the replies posted here since your initial visit a couple of days ago. @dancouclanel4, also 80 years young, has posted his experience with the same V&V treatments that your dad is currently undergoing.
How were his blood numbers today? Is he feeling a little more energetic?
Stem cell/bone marrow transplant is very very challenging and not recommended for anyone over 75 (until recently it was younger than that).
I am so sorry to read of your father’s illness. My husband was diagnosed with high risk MDS a year and a half ago at age 73. We were referred for stem cell transplant immediately and told frankly of the risks and difficulties. To bring his disease into remission he endured six cycles of Vidaza with venetoclax added the last two cycles. Initially he was very ill but after three cycles got considerable improvement in his counts. He had an allogenic transplant last August and we are hoping for further improvements in his blood counts and to completely vanquish the MDS.
I wish you the best
Dorothy
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