[josey63]

Thanks for the reply Mike, when I had AA they knew very little about it and I had experimental treatment. After a few years most of my counts were in the low normal range except for my platlet count which has never been over 50, so I have just been real careful , no skydiving, most of my life. I have been told I was lucky to be able to have children, most AA patients can't. The reason I can't take most of the MDS meds is due to the fact that they decrease your platlet count and since mine is only 10 now they can't take the risk, if they get those up I could try some of the MDS drugs. I do have a perfect match in my sister for a stem cell transplant, they use a mini-transplant on someone my age. Unfortunately, I am on Medicare and can't afford to pay my share of cost for a transplant, and even though my sister is retired she will not be my caregiver and I have no one who will be. So a transplant is out of the question. From all that I have read the survival rate for more than 1 year for someone my age is about 5%. I do have a doctor at OHSU who is following me along with my doctor here. I just keep positive that the drug research will come up with a new drug. Again thanks for the reply, my family takes all of this lightly, they won't even get flu shots. Josey63