MDS / Exhaustion / Bleeding Gastric Ulcers

[Janet Klagholz]

My husband was diagnosed with MDS in January 2020. His levels have not been low enough to require any treatment and he had been feeling pretty well. A month ago he suffered a heart attack and while in the hospital his hemoglobin dropped to a critical level. An Endoscopy revealed he had bleeding ulcers. He was given 2 transfusions while in the hospital. Since he has been home he is exhausted. I am hoping to find some answers.

[Erin]

Hi Janet. Sorry to hear your husband isn’t doing well. Is his hemoglobin back to where it was before he was hospitalized? What does his oncologist say?

[Janet Klagholz]

Thanks for your reply Erin. Yes, his hemoglobin level is back to where it was prior to this. His GI Doc said he feels the ulcers have healed. He has an appointment with his Cardiologist this week and hopefully that will shed some light. I just don’t know at this point if it is his heart or the MDS. Luckily all his Drs communicate with each other so hopefully they will figure it out.

[stacey]

Hi Janet,

If you haven’t yet, ask the cardiologist if any damage occurred to his heart as a result of the heart attack or if it was a very mild heart attack with no significant damage that would cause the exhaustion. Also, I would have thought a technician would have done an echocardiogram of his heart at the hospital before he left, so the cardiologist should be able to give you some details of those findings at that appointment. If his hemoglobin is still holding at normal, I wonder if he is just exhausted specifically from the stress of the heart attack.
My father, only brother and mother have all had heart attacks, so I hope you get some answers. Best wishes to you & your husband.
-Stacey

[stacey]

Also meant to ask you if your husband was put on any new heart related medicines (such as blood pressure or cholesterol medication) which could be causing the tiredness.
-Stacey

[Janet Klagholz]

Thanks for your reply Stacy,

When he was in the hospital it was determined that there was damage to his heart, his heart attack happened on a Friday night. They were scheduled to do a heart cath. on Monday but then his hemoglobin dropped so significantly (he was on a lot of heparin at the time because of the heart attack). They determined it was too risky to do the heart cath and the GI Dr stepped in and did an endoscopy. That was when they found the bleeding ulcers and fixed them. He was put on additional meds for the ulcers and yes for his heart too. He had a follow up with his cardiologist the week after he was released and he wanted to make sure the ulcers were healed before he did anything else. He sees his cardiologist again this week. As a little more background, he had Bypass surgery in 2016 (luckily he did not have a heart attack prior to that) then in 2018 he did have a mild heart attack and luckily there was no damage to his heart at that point and stents were put in where the blockages were. It is very possible his extreme exhaustion is heart related, and even medication related. He has been such a fighter over the past 20 years, when he was diagnosed with his first cancer. Since then there have been 8 other cancers but honestly he was feeling good prior to this happening in July. Since his MDS diagnosis in January it is just a new situation to try to figure out how it is affecting his health.

I truly appreciate all your insight and caring.
Janet

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