Hi, Debbie
In 1996 I was 55 when I was diagnosed with MDS (RARS) and at that time the prognosis for that was not very good, though it was better than it would have been for me had I been diagnosed as has your husband with RAEB.
I write because I am still here, well beyond my expected "sell by" date as originally seen in my diagnosis-- 14 years now!-- and I have been for 7-plus years on a treatment that was listed as successful in only one out of 10 people with RARS (procrit-- now changed to aranesp after the recall).
My basic point is, that RA is a very "personal" disease, unique in many ways to each person with it. Once in an AA/MDS conference we broke out into groups relevant to our particular form of MDS: There were 12 of us with RARS in the same room and no two of us seemed to have the same disease when it came to how we felt, how we were treated, etc. etc.
So, always consider ALL your options, despite sometimes the low odds, cause ya never know
And FYI, here's a link to an article I wrote 10 years ago (updated 4 years ago) on how to get on with life once you've been told you have MDS or any life-threatening disease. Hope it is of some value to you.
God Bless
http://www.aamds.org/aplastic/inform...e_on_livin.php