Hi Steve,
Very important for your father to see a platelet specialist!
1 Your father can perhaps have ITP - Immun Thrombocytopenia with much better prognosis than MDS.
2 Directly after a platelet transfusion your father perhaps could travel. Prednisone and similar drugs very often increases platelets but are not OK for long term treatment.
3 His pancytopenia is not serious with HGB and WBC just outside the normal range. Many diseases could give that kind of results.
4 Your info about Vidaza is correct. Perhaps the platelet specialist will give your father Eltrombopag/Promacta - a drug for low platelets.
Questions:
1 We hope that your father will be able to see a platelet specialist after platelet txs and Prednisone.
2 Platelets very often jump - it is important that they function well. If they are dysfunctional your father should have small bledings from mouth and nose, small skin bleedings called petaechia and bruises.
3 If you are looking for a third opinion you should try a platelet specialist.
4 There are many drugs that can cause low platelets or prevent blood clotting. All kinds of pain killers skouls be avoided. Here is a warning list:
http://www.pdsa.org/about-itp/warnings.html
Kind regards
Birgitta-A
75 yo, dx MDS Interm-1 2006. Positive results with Thalidomide and Revlimid