[Lisa Lynne]

My father was diagnosed in April of this yr.with MDS. He is 84 yrs.old. He has had 5 rounds of IV Vidaza thus far with very minimal side effects. Now, due to recurrent neutropenic fevers, his hem/onc. md. is advising we stop the treatment, as he feels the Vidaza itself may be causing the fever. He has been hospitalized twice with the fevers, each with negative cultures, so this may true. We had a second opinion of a physician at H.Lee Moffitt in Tampa, who advised if going off the Vidaza, to start on Procrit and Neupogen together and to also get bloodwork for "TCR gene rearrangement" and "flow for LGL". We are getting those drawn this Mon.but have not started on the Neupogen and Procrit, as our appoint.with his hem/onc.is not until this Thurs.and we haven't discussed with him the advice of the other md. Any thoughts on this treatment option? Has anyone done the Vidaza, stopped, and then just received the Procrit and Neupogen, and if so, what was the response. We are afraid, that if we just "watch and wait", that of course, the counts will decline, and worse case scenario, he will progress to an acute leukemia.
Please, if anyone has been in this position, let me know of your experiences.
I feel I am racing against the clock to research and come up with best course of treatment. I am a nurse, and this is still overwhelming for me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.