|
Hey Red!
It doesn't pay to get too freaked out about the average life expectancy stuff -- there's a huge variation among individuals with the same scores. However, those numbers can help convince folks that this is a disease that will try to kill you if you don't fight it aggressively.
Dacogen can improve blood counts and reduce or eliminate the need for transfusions, but it is, ultimately a temporary thing. There are some other treatments out there that. Could be tried once the Dacogen quits working. But none of them are a cure -- particularly for a 58 year-old who would like to live to a ripe old age.
I would guess your brother is headed toward a transplant, unless the lupus or other factors make him a bad candidate. So, even as he pursues the Dacogen, it would make sense to have a consult with a good transplant doc, to look at e options and get the ball rolling, so to speak. It would be a really bad idea to wait until the Dacogen quits working or he converts to AML and try to do all that transplant prep at crunch time.
Take care!
Greg
__________________
Greg, 59, dx MDS RCMD Int-1 03/10, 8+ & Dup1(q21q31). NIH Campath 11/2010. Non-responder. Tiny telomeres. TERT mutation. Danazol at NIH 12/11. TX independent 7/12. Pancreatitis 4/15. 15% blasts 4/16. DX RAEB-2. Beginning Vidaza to prep for MUD STC. Check out my blog at www.greghankins.com
|