Hope, Cautions, and Confusion

 Dr M is the doctor Lu and I have been seeing for my MDS.  He is a younger doctor, has incredible credentials, is associated with an excellent clinic, and has the ability to explain the intricacies of MDS is a language Lu and I can fairly easily understand.  Furthermore, he is willing to take time to spend with Lu and I either in the office or by phone.  We feel blessed to have him calling the shots with my MDS malady.

My wife Lu and I were pretty anxious about our last visit with Dr M.  During this visit, Dr M was going to tell us of the results of the bone marrow biopsy and the extensive blood work done previously.  These results were to tell us the type of MDS I had, as well as the severity of it, and what treatment regimen would be needed, if any.  Basically, a lot of what was happening to me, as well as possible prognosis of my malady would be revealed then and Lu and I were real apprehensive to say the least.

  

With MDS, there are two important items:
                 1. What type of MDS do you have?
                 2. How serious is it?

 Dr M told us that the MDS I have is called RCMD (Refractory Cytopenia with Multilineage Dysplasia).  This is the most common type; check it out on the ACS link, if you wish.  Secondly, he told us how serious it is by a medical tool called IPSS which takes three characteristics of your blood and medical condition and gives you a score.  He said that I am in the Low Risk Group and said “You probably have 7 to 10 years”  (The HOPE!?).  I turned to Lu and said with a slight tear in my eye “See, I told you I was going to be around a long time” 

Almost immediately after however, good Dr M warned me that if I have a fever over 100 or if I notice any swelling or lumps in my lympg nodes that I should IMMEDIATELY call the clinic (The CAUTION). So maybe my life is in a little more precarious state than I thought a few seconds before. 

After returning home Lu and I checked out the RCMD type of MDS and were shocked!  The ACS website said that with this type of MDS people have an average of 2 years of life after being diagnosed (The CONFUSION, Dr M said 7 – 10 years, what gives???).  The optimistic me says that I have 7 – 10 years, perhaps even more, while my more pessimistic wife probably is looking closer to the 2 year figure.

This I do know for sure: no one short of God himself can possibly know how long I actually DO have left.  I can choose to live in the shadows of impending doom or choose to relish each day that I am here.  I choose the latter and each day since my MDS diagnosis, I say a short prayer when I get up “Thank you Lord for today”.  I am again blessed with another day of life and hope that I will make the most of it.  Another day, what a blessing from our Lord.  Whether I am feeling really great and am pretty much symptom or am in the midst of my final days, I still have the blessing of another day and hope that I will use it to glorify God.  Thank you again God for another day!

Please check out “Thank you Lord for Today” in Inspirational Links. Thank you for reading my blog and please feel free to pass this along to whoever you feel may need to read this.  Comments encouraged.

God’s peace