[bwf]

Linda,

My mom, 70, has had bleeding too (in her stool), although she had it before she was started on Dacogen, which was at the end of August. She has had AA for 12 years; diagnosed with MDS this summer - not sure of her blast count. After the Dacogen (5 days on), she went home but felt awfully fatigued and my dad ended up taking her in to the hospital - I believe she had a bleeding episode then as well. She has been in the hospital since the end of August, including 2 trips, of several days each, in ICU. She had on/off fevers (she went days w/o signs of fever, only to have it return). The real devil has been this PCP/fungal pneumonia that she caught (going on 3 weeks now) - it is in both lungs. They are attacking in with Bactrim (Sulfameth Trimethoprim) and Menepenum (sp?). It appears to be working a little, but they say that CT snans still reveal the pneumonia is hanging on. Hew WBC was .1, but now has steadily climbed to 3.1. Her platelets have been as low as 12 or so (the doctor has tried to keep them above 50K, which seems to be the bleeding point). He is giving her Danizol (sp?) to try and keep the platelets up - and also Neupogen shots. We are not sure at this point if we would continue with the Dacogen for 2, 3, or 4th regimens, although that hasn't been ruled out either. But she is still in the woods with the pneumonia.

Best to you and Bob. If he could stand to go thru it, BMT may be the best long term solution as other options seem to have short-lived promises . . . until they find a cure.

Brian