View Single Post
  #2  
Old Sun Sep 4, 2016, 01:39 AM
Neil Cuadra Neil Cuadra is offline
Owner
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Los Angeles, California
Posts: 2,553
Zent,

I'm a caregiver, not someone with medical training, but I can share my impression with you. Your father's test results don't strike me as typical of MDS. I can't really second-guess a physician who has all the facts at hand, but I suggest asking him to explain more about what he thinks needs to be done and why.

You didn't mention symptoms your father might be having. Has he experienced any symptoms of blood or bone marrow problems, like fatigue? From your description, he sounds pretty healthy, so congratulations for that.

Some of his counts are just within the normal range or just outside of the normal range, and at 79 I think that's pretty good news. His health also sounds very stable (i.e., not changing at a fast pace), and I hope that means that there is no major cause for concern.

Have the doctors pointed out that B12 deficiency is common for vegetarians (see this article)? That connection seems stronger to me than the connection between B12 and pancytopenia from MDS.

Perhaps you should ask for more of an explanation from the hematologist about why he thinks that the discomfort and expense (and tiny risk) of a bone marrow biopsy is warranted. Also, before considering any invasive medical test, your family and the hematologist should discuss what good the information would do you. If your father was found to have MDS, what would you do about it? If he's age 79 and symptom-free then the risks of treatment might be too high to be worth it.
Reply With Quote