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Old Tue Oct 24, 2017, 01:32 PM
kdevito kdevito is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Michigan
Posts: 3
Bone Marrow Transplant

My father, age 72 now, diagnosed with RCMD at 70 is in the preparation stages of a transplant. I see here that several have successfully completed this procedure and am looking for tips. The decision has been excruciating. He did well upon initial diagnosis, no real issues, still low blast count, hovers around 4 to 5% no one concerned about that...but all three lines impacted, WBC, RBC and Platelets and very fatigued. Initially started Neupogen to deal with low WBC and neutrophil. It worked well for awhile, then spleen very enlarged and took over the process of making blood cells since basically in total bone marrow failure. He went downhill, hemoglobin dropped into the low 7's and needed transfusions. Plan was transplant but was not "fit"...lost a lot of weight....Then he started Dacogen over the summer and in 4th cycle now. He has turned around and feeling pretty good...the goal was to do a few rounds to see if he could become fit enough for transplant. However, now that he's feeling better and doing more, it's hard not to say, let's just stay on the Dacogen.....3 of 4 doctors recommend transplant now. The only doctor saying no is the Doc administering the chemo. Hard to think about going backward when he's so much better, but all involved in his care say this is only temporary and that he may lose the window for transplant a second time if he does not do this now...Eventually the Dacogen will stop working and he will go downhill quickly based on where he was before....he likely only had a few months left the way we were headed. Looking for advice and anyone whose had long term success with Dacogen and anyone else dealing with this decision making process. Thanks!!
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