[C&C]

My husband, 66 years old, was diagnosed with low risk MDS after receiving platelets, blood and a bone marrow biopsy while in the hospital. Watched and waited for a while but was given vidaza and procrit eventually. He had 3 rounds of vidaza and kept feeling worse with extremely low blood pressure also. He finally went to MD Anderson in Houston for a second opinion and initially was given the same diagnosis but then the doctor noticed his B12 was <30 and did some more checking with other doctors.

His B12 had been <45 when he was first hospitalized and this was overlooked by the hospital and the Oncologist/Hematologist.

He stopped the vidaza and started injections of B12 and has been doing so much better since. He has tingling and numbness in his fingers resulting from this. His diagnosis now is Pernicious Anemia mimicking MDS. He has intrinsic factor blocking antibodies and will have to take B12 shots the rest of his life, but this is so much better than Vidaza.

I am posting this at the request of my husband because he wants everyone to realize how important a second opinion can be. Wish we had done this before the chemo. It would have saved so much sickness and damage to him.