bgagnon,
It sounds like your father is getting the appropriate care: blood and marrow tests, diagnosis, classification, immediate supportive treatment (transfusions), and treatment with a combination of drugs known to help many MDS patients. Since he'll be in a clinical trial, his condition will be closely monitored, which is good because no two MDS patients are exactly the same and responses to treatment vary as well.
The
MDS Patient Handbook you can download from the MDS Foundation and the
MDS information packet you can get from the AA&MDSIF can provide you with detailed overviews of MDS and its treatment.
You're doing exactly the right thing to help your father by reading and learning about MDS. That's what will help you understand what the doctors report and what they recommend at each stage. Let's hope the right combination of drugs will put your father's MDS into remission.
Are you able to make the trip down to Farmington to help your father in person and talk to his medical team directly, or are you having to help him from afar?
May I ask your father's age?