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Dacogen
Hi Jill,
Too bad that your father got so low counts after his first cycle with Dacogen!
You know most patients get decreased red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets when they start treatment with Dacogen or Vidaza (that is supposed to be a little better for many patients than Dacogen).
It is very important to control the white blood cells and look at a kind of white blood cells called neutrophils at least once a week when we start treatment with Dacogen or Vidaza because when the white blood cells are low we easily get infections like pneumonia. When we fight the infections we can get other complications like a heart attack. If the white blood cells get too low we should get Neupogen that increases the white blood cells.
It is not possible to know anything about futher treatment now because your father has to be in better condition before his doctor will suggest anything.
Look at advices for neutropenic (too low neutrophils) patients so you know how to avoid infections. You could ask for the HGB, white blood cell count, neutrophil count and platelet count - these numbers are the most important for us. Make a report for yourself and follow his counts.
Hope your father will improve soon!
Kind regards
Birgitta-A
71 yo, dx MDS Interm-1 May 2006, transfusion dependent, Desferal and Exjade for iron overload, Neupogen 2 injections/week for white blood cells since neutopenic fever Sept 2007
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