[RDC1001]

Hello,

I have read through lots of threads and I have found some very helpful information, but I still wanted to share.

My grandmother is 92 years old and her hematologist is "leaning" towards an MDS diagnosis.

A quick backstory:

She has been in overall well health and I help with her care though I do not live with her. My father works full time and I split my time there with my cousin. A few weeks ago I was watching her as she had lost some of her appetite, had lost a little bit of weight, and just generally looked unwell. She also started getting a case of gout. We went to her regular doctor and they suggested we go to the ER with her high temp (102) and severe pain...they wanted to make sure it was not a joint infection.

It ended up being a UTI, which I thought cause her recent decline in memory. But through that admission to the hospital, her labs came back and her hemoglobin was at a 6. They were worried about possibly bleeding in her colon for some reason. Her hemoglobin came up to above an 8 and they transferred her to sub-acute rehab, where she remained until yesterday.

Every other day I asked the labs to be drawn and her numbers went down, hemoglobin, hemocrit, etc (mind you, I am not a medical person so I have no idea what it all means), but no one seemed to be concerned about it in rehab or worried...but something did not seem right.

Because of this, I scheduled an appt with a hematologist she saw a few years ago. He was able to get us in right away actually. He took new labs, and based on those labs, he suggested that it is possibly MDS (and only slightly mentioned Leukemia). The only way to know is to do a bone marrow biopsy. While he was very kind, he suggested that MDS is related to aging and did not make it seem like a big deal.

Once I got home and started researching a little, I am realizing that it is VERY much a big deal. I need to discuss the options with my family--do we want to put her through a painful biopsy to be sure this is the diagnosis. And if this is the diagnosis, the stories I have read for elderly and advanced do not seem to have a great outlook.

I know no one can give me advice about what I should do, but if you have dealt with this yourself or cared for people with MDS, how realistic do you think I should be in regards to her treatment? Prior to this, her health was great for her age. In the past month she has had a rapid cognitive decline....I cannot believe how her short term memory is just nearly gone all of a sudden. But she is able to walk to the bathroom, cook small meals for herself, and such.

**Oh, a side note. On one of her discharge papers there was a diagnosis of chronic kidney damage (stage 3) and no one mentioned a word to me about this, which I find odd.

My grandmother is like my mother, I want to do all I can for her. Does anyone have any advice?