[julielucas]

Hi all,
I hope this finds everyone in reasonably good health and excellent spirits. My husband Jeff has been having a very rough time lately.
He went through 6 rounds of Vidaza with no improvement so doc wanted to try Dacogen. He made it through one round but had to be put on hold because he spiked a fever, 103 and had to be hospitalized.
You all know the drill: pumped full of antibiotics, tested for every infection known to man- no cause found. All of his counts were way down: Hg 6.9, platelets 14 and wbc 0.6!!! They released him on New Years day- fabulous way to begin the new year!
His doc decided to hold off on round 2 of Dacogen until his counts came up. He's had 4 bags o'RBCs, 2 platelets and Neupogen shots for 5 days.
His count today was 0.9 for the WBCs!! Improving but still very low. We see doc tomorrow to see if he can resume the Dacogen on Mon.
But here's my dilemma: Jeff's condition is terminal and he probably won't last a year, if that long. This is his 3rd fight with blood disease. He isn't a candidate for SCT because his MDS is due to chemo for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. He doesn't want to go that route any way. His only option after Dacogen is palliative care.
I'm wondering what his quality of life will be while going through this chemo? When she was explaining the palliative care, doc said he'd probably feel better because he wasn't on chemo anymore.
If that's the case, then why even go through with the chemo? He's so weak, and his counts are not improving that much. Transfusions seem to only last a few days. I'm so afraid his counts are going to bottom out during chemo that he's incapacitated physically. He's a university professor and he lives to teach! He's so excited that the new semester is about to start. He tells me he just wants to be able to get through Spring semester.
Has anyone gone through Vidaza then Dacogen successfully? I know there are few members here that do well on Dac but they've all had SCT. I've read some studies that conclude that following Vidaza failure with Dacogen did not do much to increase one's life.
Of course this is for Jeff and his oncologist to decide. But he depends on me to research everything and advise him. Whatever he decides I'm behind him 100%. I would just like some input from you all. "Thanks for listening"
Julie