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Old Sun Sep 4, 2016, 11:13 AM
zent1000 zent1000 is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 11
Hello Neil,

Thanks a lot for such a detailed reply!!

The following happened to my father in the last two months:

1) In early July, my father had pain in his left hip and knee and lower leg and it made him limp when he walked. The Orthopedist did an X-ray of pelvis and both of his hips and it was normal. The treatment with painkillers worked and the pain went away in about 4 weeks.

2) In July he also had a throat infection/cough/cold and after recovering from that, his Respiratory Specialist, gave him a Penumonia vaccine in early August. Right away after that, the pain returned on his left legs and knee and this time it also was in his left buttocks. The Orthopedist gave more pain killers and it was effective in bringing the pain down but he still had it and he felt it when he walked.

3) We sought another Orthopedist who said the pain is nerve related and is probably sciatica, but we will know next month when a MRI of the spine will be done. In the meantimne, anti-neruopathy pain medication was prescribed to see if the pain would go away.


Are any of the above related to MDS? He's had elevated MVC (98-102) and low RBC between(4.25 -4.55) for almost 2 years and 9 months without any symptoms. He typically would go for morning/evening walks and also use his exercise bike every day. Since his pain from the last two months, he is only able to take smaller walks and has not used his bike.He is able to do his daily activities and has not complained about fatigue.

Thanks for the link of Vitamin B12 and vegetarianism. My father's Vitamin B12 in Dec 2013 was > 2000 and it was subsequently measured in June 2014 and it was 1608 pg/ml (Reference Range : 211-940).It has not been measured after that. When I talked to his PCP in Feb 2016 about why he is been given Vitamin injections when his Vitamin B12 has not been measured recently, he told me that measuring MCV and MCH (along with CBC) is an adequate to check for low Vitamin B12 and there is no need to measure Vitamin B12 directly.

When I asked the Hematologist for his reasons for suspecting MDS (with borderline normal values of RBC and MCV) and ordering a bone marrow test, he mentioned that my father's age of 79 was a risk factor and that other reasons were eliminated. He also said that it would provide a good baseline.

As you said, if my father has MDS and he is symptom free, would treatment make sense without any symptoms? Isn't "wait and watch" the standard treatment strategy?

I would appreciate any comments from you with the above information.

Thanks a lot!!
Zent
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