I went back to Univ Mass 0n 8/30 to see Dr. Raza and to inquire about entering one of her studies that did not have any significate side effects. After taking a look at another BMB there, she recommended I start Vidaza soon. My local Hemat. suggests that as long as I am having no symptoms, I should just go on with my life as now (skiing all this winter, etc.) and postpone treatments.
A delemna–So I went to Dr. Nakamura at the City of Hope. They looked at the BMB slides, and agreed with the diagnosis. Dr. N said that he would have no problems with either approach, but if I started having infections I should start Neupogen or neulasta and if my platelets dropped below 50k (they are about 70K now) I should not ski. They have a meeting in the Dept. with all the Hemats to discuss new patients, and their consensus was that approach seemed reasonable, but I should start Vidaza treatments if there are any significant drop in my counts this winter and I should start Vidaza this Spring to delay the effects of the disease.
Some of you have asked to be kept informed on my visits
Chuck
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