**Hip replacement while on Vidaza**

[ask4angels]

Hi. I am a 69 year old male and I am needing to have a hip replacement on the right side. It has been 2 1/2 years since diagnosis. The pain in my hip is really bad. So far I have had a total of 15 rounds of chemo. Has anyone had a hip replacement while Being on Vidaza?

[Malissa Kirszenbaum]

Hi there ask4angels. Just saw this post, a bit dated response (maybe you have received your hip replacement now and are feeling great.) My husband is low risk RARS low hemoglobin and low neutrophils. No treatment yet but ferritin levels getting high (non transfusion related). His left hip pain was so bad he could not put off surgery another minute. Surgery went well as to hip, however, his hemoglobin tanked at 6.2 and needed two blood transfusions and wound up 7 days at Hopkins. We are one month post surgical now but his hemoglobin is not returning to his baseline low (11.5) and heading back down under 10. How did your counts do after surgery? It seems like the surgery has stirred some new challenges up. Hoping you are doing well with that new hip. Thank you. Malissa

[Amy S.]

Thanks for sharing. I am also interested to know about effects of hip replacement while on Vidaza. I am on Vidaza and have had hip arthritis for many years. Vidaza treatment seemed to aggravate the hip and orthopedic surgeons recommend hip replacement. I am hoping to void the surgery by having steroid injection into the hip joints. Did the hip replacement change your blood counts afterwards ? Malissa, thanks for sharing the info on your husband surgery. Hope the counts will improve soon.

[Malissa Kirszenbaum]

Hi Amy. I can’t answer your question as to the Vidaza but it did change his blood counts after surgery. 24 hours after surgery his hemoglobin went from almost 11 down to 6.2. They had to transfuse him for the very first time with two bags. The problem we’re starting to see now, for the very first time, one month out, is that his bone marrow has not yet taken over to replenish the hemoglobin. The oncologist told us next week would be 30 days since his last transfusion and based on his blood results Friday it looks like he’s going down instead of up. We were just wondering whether or not the surgery instigated some thing that is going to become a new challenge. So far they have watched his red and white counts without having to give treatment. The last discussion had his oncologist starting to talk about perhaps procrit and chelation to get rid of the iron overload. So things may be changing a little. If he continues to go down with the hemoglobin they are going to take a bone marrow but see in September to see if his disease is advancing.It was a quality of life decision for him. He was in so much pain he could not endure and decided to have the surgery. The oncologist said that people with MDS usually make surgical decisions as a last resort because I can get a little rocky postsurgical. He felt that it was a serious quality of life issue for him.

[Malissa Kirszenbaum]

Amy, sorry it cut off and sent before I was finished. I wanted to tell you that I am so sorry that you were struggling with the arthritis. I watched him and it was so painful. Talk to your doctors and see what they think. They should be able to give you an idea of what to expect. His oncologist warned him that there would be a chance of blood transfusions just because the nature of hip surgery. I hope this helps mostly I hope this note finds you happy and healthy.

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