Hi, junglegirlsue.
Welcome to Marrowforums. As you can see from Joan's and Sharon's posts there
are a lot of people here who are caring for parents with MDS.
There are some things you and/or your mother can do to try to make her transfusions last longer. You can read the discussion about the
"freshness" of blood products, but the main point is that her doctor should always order the freshest blood possible--that is, blood that has the most time left before its expiration date.
Activity does not generally affect how long a transfusion will last. She won't use up her blood cells by exercising or continuing whatever activities she's doing. As long as she knows to stop when she feels short of breath, dizzy, or faint, I would encourage her to keep doing what she's doing to maintain her mental health.
The current wisdom is that patients should worry about iron overload after about 20 transfusions. Waiting for 100 transfusions will be too late. You can read through the threads in our
Transfusions and Iron Overload forum to see what's being said on this topic.
If you haven't already, contact the
Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation and ask for their packet on MDS plus information about iron overload. There's lots to learn about MDS and these materials will help you get a firm grounding in all the medical jargon and important issues to consider.
Let us know what questions you have. We're all here to help.
Regards,
Ruth Cuadra