[Hopeful]

Ann,

I am so sorry for the loss of your mom. Your love for her is so evident.

Your mom had very complex chromosomes, which is not a good thing in the MDS world. Usually patients with this must move rapidly to BMT. I am not sure that Vidaza is effective at stabilizing complex chomosones as it is at reducing blasts.

The crazy thing about MDS is that if you saw someone on the street with the disease, you may not even realize it. They may appear more tired than normal, but that can easily be missed too. MDS was probably slowly weakening your mom's defenses for years, although it was only diagnosed in January. Pneumonia and infections are very hard to recover from when you have an underlying bone marrow failure disease.

You were blessed to have that last good memory with your mom at Disney World. I know that sometimes people struck with terminal diseases will have one last good rally before their body shuts down and perhaps that was hers.

I am so sorry for the loss of your mom but believe her spirit is still surrounding you and the people you love. Take care.