Hi folks, I am new to the forum and relatively new to MDS. After about a year and a half of feeling ill, having repeated fevers, tiredness, chills, losing weight, low WBC, RBC, and Platelet counts etc. and not being able to find out what the problem was, I finally got a Bone marrow biopsy (just to check that it wasn't cancer!) and was diagnosed with MDS.
The Oncologist said it wasn't serious and we would just watch and wait to see how things progressed over the next year or two - well that very weekend I went down with a really bad fever and the Doc. decided he would put me on Vidaza infusions as a result. 6 rounds of 7 consecutive infusions each month was the plan and I have completed round 1, with round 2 about to start next week.
Long story short, here's my issue. My wife and others have been consistently pointing out that it is likely that the chemo itself causes more harm to the body than the cancer does, and that a lot of what is wrong with us these days can be boiled down to our lifestyles and what we eat in particular. If I were to change my diet (more organic produce, etc.) and increase my exercise, it is probable that I would get better naturally, but if I continue with the chemo I am likely to get progressively worse (statistics showing very low cure rates for chemo, versus alternative natural remedies).
Chemo isn't a particularly attractive proposition anyway, and as we all know it both costs a bomb and will not cure (just delay) the cancer - only a BMT will do that!
However, I am torn between the two options - if I refuse further treatment will I effectively be 'cutting off my nose to spite my face' since both the Hospital and the Insurance Co. would most likely decline to assist in the future if I changed my mind later? On the other hand, if I continue the chemo, I could be destroying any hope of a natural recovery later on, should the chemo fail to halt the cancer (or indeed make it worse). Not only that, but to continue with chemo puts a heavy financial burden on my family (insurance doesn't pay all the bills, and insurance only lasts as long as one's employer is prepared to put up with you being sick, which in the USA isn't usually more than 12 weeks - only because of the FMLA I might add!).
There is a lot of confusing information out there and part of me wants to believe in the chemo route, although survival rates do seem to be pretty low as to warrant the expense and the discomfort. The other part of me thinks there could be something to the alternative lifestyle route that makes it worth a shot, even though there are many 'crackpot' solutions out there that give Alternative medicine a bad name.
This is a very informed group, so I would really appreciate hearing your opinions.
Many thanks