[otryingo]

Hi Niel,

Thanks for the prompt reply. He has been taking procrit shots weekly since January 2012. His red and white cells have been steadily declining and he'll likely need to start blood transfusions in a couple of weeks. He'll have another bone marrow test tomorrow to confirm this. I wasn't quite clear in my earlier post. He was vibrant just a year ago and in the past few months he's been rapidly declining and marching toward acute Leukemia.

As far as the statin drug connection idea, and since the cause of myelodysplasia is fairly unknown, I was just trying to come up with ideas for future research. I figure everything is on the table. I know that nothing will be in time to help my Dad, but thought maybe someone out there might be able to do a study to see if certain drugs or combinations of drugs can trigger this type of problem.

I'm not anti-drug, but increasingly I try to look at the source of medical issues rather than trying to put a bandaid on them. (For instance, I had some skin issues a while back and discovered that the source of the problem was food allergies. I figured this out for myself after about 17 years of suffering. The dermatologists just gave me creams, etc., that were the "bandaid" and never cured the problem. I've now been issue free for about 6 years after discovering which foods I'm allergic to, with the help of a professional allergist.)

So I was trying to approach my Dad's situation in a similar way without being a scientist or doctor. It just seems that he was perfectly fine until he starting taking medications for the cholesterol. All you need to hear is an RX commercial with the disclaimer message to wonder if some of these drugs are worth it - or even if they really know everything about them and their side-effects.

Thanks, again.