[rondeb111]

Dad just diagnosed with Myelodysplasia RAEB-2 Refractgory Anemia with Excess Blasts-2. 65 years old. Any information regarding; treatement life expectancy, what to expect from disease...etc. Had C-cell Lymphoia 18 years ago and prostate cancer 10 years ago.

Update from dr. visit today...
2/7/11
Saw Dr. Amanda Cashen at Siteman Cancer Center, there are a total of 7 transplant Drs in the group, they openly discuss the cases with all members on the team – bld work done, counts up from last Fri, had Neupogen shots on Fri & Mon,
2/7 2/4
WBC – 4.6 3.3 white blood cells
PLT- 226 226 platelets

As we all know he has MDS or Myelodysplasia, with his case, he has issues with his wbc’s dropping & moderate anemia, should the anemia get worse he might need transfusions, should the percent of blast cells increase, it can go into Acute Leukemia. Right now he is at 18%, they say it is Leukemia at 20%; he is at high risk for this to happen, if it were to, he would get admitted to the hospital for what they call induction chemo to get the Leukemia in remission until we could do the Stem cell transplant.
She says if we do nothing he has 10 – 12 months, Chemo only, 2-5 years, Stem Cell transplant probable cure, providing no complications, so he has decided to go for the transplant, actually he has turned it all over to God, & the outcome is in his hands, so he will be with us as long as God determines.
Right now, we start chemotherapy on Monday, I failed to get the exact spelling of the drug he will be getting so will have to give you that at later time, the dr called this chemo a bridge until we get the transplant. It is going to be outpatient, Monday – Friday; the treatments will be IV & last about an hour, blood work every Monday. He will be able to do 4 of the 5 days at West County to save some of his time. This chemo is unlike the last go around & he should not be near as sick, that & they have a lot of new drugs to help with any side effects he might have!! He will have a treatment every 4 wks, at least 3 – 4 before the transplant.
Transplant – the best choice is a sibling, the boys are only 50% possible match, so they will try first siblings then donor registry. It will be about 4 wks after sibling checked before we know if we have any matches, they want a 10/10, but will transplant an 8 or 9/10, if have to. When he goes in for transplant, he can have someone stay with him 24/7 the whole time he is there if he wants. He will be in hospital at least 4 wks, the 1st wk they give him chemo, the next week the donor will donate stem cells & he gets them on same day, if out of state, they fly the stem cells in, it will take him about 3 wks to build himself back up enough to go home. He will be on immunosuppressant drugs for a year, possibly forever. After the transplant they will do a bone marrow biopsy to see that he has donor & his own @ 30 days & again @ 100 days, the goal is for the donor cells to eventually be dominate, it will take about 4 months before he feels real good. The actual donation is taken from the blood, not from the bone marrow, it makes it much easier on the donor, & that is also how they test them, it’s all thru the blood, my how things have changed in 16 years.