all about leukemia

• Home

Leukemia Blog

2 Responses

Subscribe to comments via RSS

1. Written by J.S.
   on November 14, 2009 at 1:31 pm
   Permalink

   Thankfully I have never had cancer and I have not gone through chemotherapy myself but my 2 year old son E has gone through many rounds of it. As a baby he had a Wilms’ Tumour – a childhood kidney cancer and successfully beat his cancer with chemotherapy and a nephrectomy of his left kidney containing the entire baseball-sized tumour. Due to the strong doses of chemo drugs, he developed a secondary AML leukemia (closely related to ALL) in December and he’s currently doing very well in his fight.
   There are lots of symptoms of leukemia but each individual is different. Some display some symptoms while others display other ones. There’s no actual tumour as in other cancers but leukemia is a cancer of the cells that create blood cells. E had a cold in November that he just couldn’t kick. We took him to the doctor and he was given an antibiotic. He got a little better but as soon as he finished the antibiotic he got sick again. He usually has a couple bruises here and there since he is a 2 year old. His walking was greatly affected from one of the drugs in his first chemo cocktail so he trips and falls pretty often. But the bruising he had was more than usual – he bruised at the slightest bump. That’s when we really knew something was wrong and took him to the doctor again. Once he was diagnosed we found out that his spleen and liver were enlarged – also symptoms of leukemia. Due to the extent of enlargement of his spleen, he had it removed after a round of chemotherapy. So far he has had 3 strong doses of induction chemo and 3 consolidation rounds, and he just finished another strong dose of chemo due to a tumour in his liver that hasn’t been typed yet – unrelated to the leukemia but possibly related to the Wilms’ Tumour he had as an infant. He does stay in the hospital during his chemo. His chemo lasts 7 days and he usually stays for up to 2 weeks. He will also have a bone marrow transplant when a donor becomes available. The chances of relapse with AML are pretty high. Since this is his second time fighting cancer he is considered at a greater risk for relapse so the bone marrow transplant is the best choice for him.
   He had some joint pain at the time of diagnosis. I have to say I didn’t really think too much of the joint pain because he doesn’t walk well due to one of the previous chemotherapy drugs he had – Vincristine. Because of Vincristine his leg muscles are weaker and he walks with “slapfoot” or “dropfoot” and he trips and falls fairly often. I figured his joint pain was because of falling but since his diagnosis I now see that it was probably because of the leukemia. On treatment he has had a significant amount of bone and joint pain, especially early on. When it’s clear that he is in pain, he does get pain meds to help. I think the painkillers do help him but I think even then he does have some pain but duller than without painkillers.
   I’ve picked up quite a bit on what really goes on in these hospitals and I’ve had to make a lot of tough decisions for my son. I know cancer isn’t easy even though I’ve thankfully never had it myself. You’re more than welcome to IM me (crazycanuckj) or send me an email (crazycanuckj@yahoo.ca).

2. Written by Cillian
   on November 14, 2009 at 1:31 pm
   Permalink

   I had AML as a child (acute myeloid leukaemia)
   When I was 3 years old, I was showing signs of illness. Fevers, nausea, painful joints, unexplained bruising, weight loss, and just generally feeling weak. It would not go away, and my parents were worried to say the least
   I was taken to a doctor and had many tests done, mainly blood tests. I was then referred to the oncology department at the local childrens hospital. After diagnosing AML, I had to start treatment right away. I underwent several rounds of chemotherapy. This has many effects such as nausea, joint pain, rashes, fevers and hair loss. I was in hospital for weeks, sometimes even months at a time. After recieving so much chemo, I went into remission, I had to have consolidation chemo after this to keep cancer cells away.
   However, a while later, I relapsed. This was bad news treatment is trickier after relapse. My family were told at this point that a bone marrow transplant was my best chance of survival. Finding a donor is not always easy, but siblings are the best matches. My brother, who is 4 years older than me, was tested to be a donor and he was a perfect match. He was happy to go ahead. I recieved high dose chemotherapy, followed by the bone marrow transplant from my brother, it was a complete success.
   I then achieved remission again, and I am still there to this day. I have now been in remission for 4 years and even though there’s always the chance of it returning, the longer you go, the less chance there is
   I hope I have been of some help to you and good luck with your essay =)

Subscribe to comments via RSS