surgery and mds

[helen c.]

my husband has mds intermediate high risk. he was just told he needs total hip replacement surgery we havnt talked to cancer dr. yet but will this coming monday the hip dr. said that he could go in hospital before surgery and get boosted up with platlets and blood and have surgery is this a good idea he is in so much pain. he has avascular necrosis and it is collapsing (of the hip)he sleeps all the time b/c of pain meds

[Marlene]

John had surgery to repair a ruptured quad tendon. They transfused platelets just prior and throughout the surgery very slowly. He then got two units of red cells after surgery. Since hip replacement is way more extensive, getting red cells prior to boost HGB sounds like a good idea. Make sure your surgeon talks with your oncologist so that they are both on the same page.

[helen c.]

ty so much for your replywe are meeting with cancer dr. mon. also she is sending us on the 27th of this month to a cancer center in tampa to reveiw his case. nad then we can make a informed decsion

[ESeda]

Helen, how often are they giving your husband platlettes now. Is he show signs of brusing or bleeding anywhere on his body? What have the plts count been recently?? Does he already have a port in place??

As you already may have read. My wife Nellie has had much difficulty because of low plates, just with placing pick lines and ports. I pray your husband does better in this regard. Don't sound like you have much choice but to do the surgery, the pain must be unbearable. Nellie also has avascular on her right hip. Painful sometimes but not needing surgery so far.

I have been watching like a hawk, so as to limit the times they stick her with a needle for any reason. She finally got a pickline in that is functioning well, without bleeding. But the bruising and hemotomas were outragious and scary. Good luck with your journey and God Bless.

Eli

[Marlene]

Just another thought regarding bleeding. They should check his clotting time. Proper blood clotting requires clotting factors in addition to platelets. When John was going through treatment, he had active bleeding from his bladder. They kept his platelets up to 50K and, at times, up to 90K in the hopes of stopping the bleeding. They also gave him shots of vitamin K three days in row. Vitamin K is needed for proper clotting.

John has had his clotting time tested several times and even with 10k platelets, he had normal clotting times. That does not mean he wasn't at risk for bleeding, just that he had all the other stuff for blood clotting to work.

So maybe it would be a good thing to ask them to check that in addition to ensuring a high platelet count before surgery.

Marlene

[helen c.]

e has only gotten platletts once since dx 13 months ago his platlets were alright until jan. 09 when they were 99 and then went to 17 when re received the platlets 3 weeks ago last mon they were 47 hope they are higher this mon.

[Mike M]

I had emergency abdominal surgery, unrelated to MDS, to stop major bleeding from a non-ulcerated arterial lesion in the stomach which required approximately 17 units of blood and seven days in the hospital -- boy did this take my mind off MDS. My Doctor was happy with the way my body responded to this incident and demanded that the surgeon give me additional platetes during my stay in the hospital. Needless to say, my blood counts were all over the wall for some time. Things have settled down and I’m now back to weekly or monthly blood tests and still on a W&W status. Hope this is helpful. Mike M

[helen c.]

hi i havnt posted in a while his doctors agree that he cant have hip surgery now so he uses a walker and a wheelchair the pain is better now that he does not put much weight on it. he is transfusion dependant now getting blood every week and platlets today he had a port put in place last mondaybut they could not use it yet b/c it is so swollen and red the surgeon will check it fri. the 29th he did get to have a treatment last week of vidaza 7 days and neupogen for 4 days they said that was why his counts were down. but hey his white count was 7 that is the highest its been in a very long time
usually between 2 and 3.4 his last bmb he was at 8% blasts and had chrmosone 3 abnormalty well i think thats about all. (thank you eli for advising me i keep up with you and nellie every day as well as everyone else on here i connect with nellie so much.)