[julielucas]

Hi y'all! My name is Julie. My husband Jeff was diagnosed with MDS last week. He's probably going to start Vidaza soon, hopefully this week. Let me give you his background info first. He's 64, Vietnam vet, University professor. He was dx with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) in 2006. Had an episode of blood clots in both lungs in 2008. Was on Coumadin for a few months. Went through chemo (FCR) and his CLL went into remission. In 2010 he had ATG for low platlets. He was checked every 6 months at the local cancer center. He seemed to be ok except he'd get very tired. He still managed to teach a full load, supervise student teachers, walk 3+ miles a day. He blamed it on "Old People's Disease". His had an oncology check-up on May1, 2014 and his doc put him on prednisone. He didn't know why, just his blood labs indicated the need. He also had a bone marrow biopsy on May 14. Stupid me did not go with him for the follow up after the prednisone was done. Last Monday he comes home and says that he's to start chemo (Vidaza) on Tuesday! What?! Then the oncologist, Dr. A, calls and tells him to go see his hematologist at Duke. We went on Thursday and he confirmed the MDS with ringed sideroblasts. No IPSS score or much info. So, I've been trying to get as much credible info as I can. There's a lot of scary stuff out there. One has to be very careful to choose good sources. I've learned more on this forum than I have from his doctors. Hopefully that will change when we see Dr. A and I get some answers to my questions. Here's Jeff's stats as of June 12. I would sure appreciate any info, links, advice- answers!
His dx is as follows: Hypercellular bone marrow 70% with erythroid and megakayocytic atypia.
~ 5% blasts
Ringed sideroblasts
His CBC report:
WBC: 2.1
RBC: 2.91
Hemoglobin:8.9
MCH: 30.6
Platelets: 28
I sure would appreciate it if someone could help interpret these findings. I know that low platelets with MDS is not good. We're sitting here waiting for the cancer center to call with his chemo appointment. It's impossible to call and actually speak to someone so I'll probably drive over there and see if I can get the ball rolling.
Thanks! Julie