Blood Cancer (mds-raeb 2) And Harvoni
UpdatedMy step dad completed treatment with Harvoni last year and was given the all clear on his Hep C, but 2 days later was diagnosed with MDS. He was going through chemo, hydration and blood transfusions, and recently underwent a bone marrow transplant. He wasn't doing well (fluid build up/adema), and on the 25th went to the ICU, and shortly after, into cardiac arrest. He's now on a ventilator, propofol, fentanyl, and on continuous dialysis. He was gone for 8 minutes. Today, they will be doing an MRI and a lumbar puncture. They want to try to wean him off the meds and take the vent out and see how he does, as when they do the "sedation vacation" in the mornings, he's awake and agitated but not really coherent.
The only thing that makes me have hope, is that he is at the Rochester, MN Mayo Clinic/Methodist Hospital. I have been reading threads about Harvoni and cancer since I found out about his MDS, as my first thought was that damn Harvoni caused this!! However, it's all been liver cancer, no one I have found with blood cancer.
People need to stay away from Harvoni. The VA needs to stop handing it out to everyone that asks for it. His Hep C was manageable, he could have lived with that. Now, I don't know what will happen.
1 Reply
Hello, Heather! How is he doing? Has there been any change? I am so sorry about what happened.
MDS is actually not the same as a cancer, though it can be a very dangerous condition. It's ineffective production of blood cells, but definition. It can, however, turn into a form of leukemia, is that perhaps what happened? Have the doctors said anything specific?
Chemotherapy is usually used to try to stop or slow it from progression to Acute Myelogenous Leukemia.
How old is your step-dad?
The mean age of onset is usually around age 68 and in spite of many studies conducted by WHO and other health research entities, they've never been able to determine any definitive cause.
There is really no way to say that he wouldn't have developed it, anyway, or if they Harvoni may have contributed, though it hasn't been known to do so.
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