Background: Diagnosis October 27, 2011

Todd was first diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome, or MDS, on October 27, 2011 at the age of 42. 

Todd had been routinely getting blood work done as a precaution while taking a certain medication every 6 months.  After several blood tests, his family doctor noticed that his blood counts were declining with each test.  This prompted his doctor to refer him to a local hematologist for further investigation.

Todd met with a local hematologist, who ordered blood work and a bone marrow biopsy.  Todd's initial blood tests showed all three blood counts, white, red, and platelets, on the low side of normal. 

The hematologist diagnosed Todd with a "De Novo" case of MDS, which means it developed without any known cause.  He also gave the diagnosis of Thrombocytopenia, which means that he had an abnormal low number of platelets in the blood. (Clevelandclinic.org/disorders/myelodysplatic).

Using the IPSS or the International Prognostic Scoring System, he rated Todd as "Low Risk" of progression toward Acute Myeloid Leukemia or AML. (Progression to AML happens to about 30% of those with MDS).  His blast count, or the immature, unhealthy blood cells in his bone marrow biopsy, at this time was in the normal range at  <1%.

The Hematologist said that it could take up to 10 years for the MDS to progress, but that he would guess Todd's life expectancy at the time with  no treatment would be about seven years. 

His recommended treatment was to give  Todd iron infusions via an IV and watch Todd's blood counts and blasts counts in a "Watch and See" approach.  Todd  wasn't supposed to return for another follow-up for 6 months.  If we felt uncomfortable with plan, so he suggested that we go get a second opinion from Cleveland Clinic or Ohio State.

Of course, after doing two rounds of Iron infusions, for some unknown reason, because Todd's iron was not low, we decided to do just that and made an appointment with the Cleveland Clinic for November 11, 2011.