[sonia s]

My mom is 64. I believe she has had some sort of bone marrow disease for many years - maybe even before 2005. She said she returned from Europe and had an infection/virus in 2005. She was weak, her spleen was enlarged and she had low platelets. in 2007, even though she had a bone marrow biopsy and something wasn't right, they did not treat her and left it alone. It didn't show a specific diagnosis, but now I see that MDS and Leukemia were on its way.

In 2005, they sent her on once a month blood tests to monitor it on a wait and see approach.

In 2009, due to high stress level, which I think spiked her condition, she had another BMB and this time it said MDS. Myelodysplasia. She lost a lot of weight in 2009.

Her spleen was continuing to grow and is uncomfortable. Her platelets have dropped considerably now. Her platelets were at 47 in Oct 2010 and now they are at 5. They went as low as 1 and needed platelet transfusion.

I'm not saying that this is what you have but beware of an enlarged spleen. They should do a CT scan to monitor it. Get a bone marrow biopsy as soon as possible so you know where you are at. Do not put off the BMB. You need to know up front what is going on in your bone marrow.

If something isn't right, the only chance to cut down the risk of MDS/Leukemia would be to get a bone marrow transplant. If you wait too long, you will be too weak to get it.

Low platelets are a huge concern as well as an enlarged spleen and loss of weight over a short period of time. Low energy comes with the territory.

Keep me posted.

Ciao.