Hey Reno!
A good place to start reading is the AA&MDS International website
here. You can also call them up and ask questions and get them to send you some booklets to read.
Other folks on this list know more about finding resources to help pay for therapy, they will probably chime in with that. MDS treatment is pretty darned expensive, so you'll need to work on the finances.
Aranesp is a synthetic version of a chemical your body makes naturally called EPO. Stick with me here, this gets a bit complicated. Your blood gets cycled through your kidneys to remove waste.Your kidneys have a kind of oxygen sensor in them that keeps track of how much oxygen your blood is carrying. When the oxygen is low, the kidneys crank out EPO, which tells your bone marrow to crank up the production of red blood cells, which carry the oxygen.
Some folks with MDS have kidneys that aren't putting out enough EPO, so Aranesp injections can make up the difference and persuade your bone marrow to make more red blood cells. That can prevent you from having to have transfusions.
Are you having transfusions?
Take care -- and be sure to check out the
AA&MDS website.
Greg