Leukemia

[amor]

I am too lazy to summarize

This is what my good friend sent me about her mom.
I am so sad. I hope her results are somehting positive.

Yesterday my mom was pricked by a needle while at work. They sent her to the ER as a standard procedure to test for HIV, Hep A & Hep B. They offered her, as her choice, to take antiviral medications. She decided to take it, but in order to do so they have to run labs to check your liver functions, etc. Her labs came back abnormal. Her white blood cell count was extremely high (31,000) with a normal high being around 10,000. They called a hemotologist/oncologist to review the labs. He suggested she go to his office today because he suspected Leukemia. We went to the cancer center today and he is pretty certain she has CML (Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia). This type of Leukemia is in the very early stage and most people don't show symptoms for about 7 years. She has not been sick, but she has been extremely tired lately which is one of the signs. The Doctor said if you are going to have leukemia, this is the one you want to have. He ran additional lab tests on her today, which we won't have results for about a week and a half, and she has to have a CT done tomorrow. He says if the labs come back the same as they did yesterday then this is what she definitely has. If thats the case she will then need to have a bone marrow biopsy. There is a pill she will take everyday for the rest of her life and be monitored every 3 months to make sure the medication is doing what it is supposed to be doing. She will also need to have bone marrow biopsies every 3 months. She will not have to go through chemotherapy, hopefully not ever. This leukemia is not hereditary and when she asked what causes it he said several factors including benzyne. She told the Doctor about the flood and oil spill and how we were constanly digging around in the Chalmette house for a good year. He seemed very interested in that and said it is likely just one of the factors that brought this on. That being said, he recommended Jaime and I to have labs done also just as a precautionary. He said she is very lucky to have had the needle prick at work yesterday because we wouldn't have known this possibly for several years, and also to be thankful it was caught in the early stages. Most cancer is not caught until it has progressed tremendously. So, all in all, we are very upset and scared. My mom is holding up okay but very terrified. So, please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers.

[Funkenstein]

Don't know them from Adam, but moms are blessings in this world.

Consider her added to the prayer list.

[BradH]

Why would they test for HIV immediately? Doesn't that take at least 3 months to show up?

I guess lucky she got pricked....
Anyways, hope it works out.

[Sinacle]

it shit like this that makes me want to shell out the $$$ and get one of those body scans. if only i owned half of dallas

[amor]

Originally Posted by BradH

Why would they test for HIV immediately? Doesn't that take at least 3 months to show up?

I guess lucky she got pricked....
Anyways, hope it works out.

True- I don't think it shows up until a few months. But she could always get re-tested. I am glad she got pricked. I am just so sad.

[.kt]

wow that is so sad
hope it works out for them..
i had to make 2 funeral sprays for a 12 year old girl a few weeks ago and when my uncle came to pick them up we both just started ballin.. she had gone in to remission twice and then out of no where her parents woke up to her no longer with them. i cant even imagine what they went thru..

[noble-e]

Originally Posted by BradH

Why would they test for HIV immediately?

They test both the patient (if they haven't already) and the person who got stuck with the needle to see if they test positive for anything, basically to see where both parties stand. They will only continue tests on the person who got stuck if the patient is positive for something and will only test for whatever it is.

[dBu]

Originally Posted by amor

I am too lazy to summarize

This is what my good friend sent me about her mom.
I am so sad. I hope her results are somehting positive.

Yesterday my mom was pricked by a needle while at work. They sent her to the ER as a standard procedure to test for HIV, Hep A & Hep B. They offered her, as her choice, to take antiviral medications. She decided to take it, but in order to do so they have to run labs to check your liver functions, etc. Her labs came back abnormal. Her white blood cell count was extremely high (31,000) with a normal high being around 10,000. They called a hemotologist/oncologist to review the labs. He suggested she go to his office today because he suspected Leukemia. We went to the cancer center today and he is pretty certain she has CML (Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia). This type of Leukemia is in the very early stage and most people don't show symptoms for about 7 years. She has not been sick, but she has been extremely tired lately which is one of the signs. The Doctor said if you are going to have leukemia, this is the one you want to have. He ran additional lab tests on her today, which we won't have results for about a week and a half, and she has to have a CT done tomorrow. He says if the labs come back the same as they did yesterday then this is what she definitely has. If thats the case she will then need to have a bone marrow biopsy. There is a pill she will take everyday for the rest of her life and be monitored every 3 months to make sure the medication is doing what it is supposed to be doing. She will also need to have bone marrow biopsies every 3 months. She will not have to go through chemotherapy, hopefully not ever. This leukemia is not hereditary and when she asked what causes it he said several factors including benzyne. She told the Doctor about the flood and oil spill and how we were constanly digging around in the Chalmette house for a good year. He seemed very interested in that and said it is likely just one of the factors that brought this on. That being said, he recommended Jaime and I to have labs done also just as a precautionary. He said she is very lucky to have had the needle prick at work yesterday because we wouldn't have known this possibly for several years, and also to be thankful it was caught in the early stages. Most cancer is not caught until it has progressed tremendously. So, all in all, we are very upset and scared. My mom is holding up okay but very terrified. So, please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers.

I know it is scary, but if you were going to get a from of cancer, this would be the one you want (very treatable). The same thing happened to my mom, sort of. She was just feeling really tired and lethargic so she went to the doc and they did her labs and her white cells were through the roof and she only had about 2/3 of the normal amount of red blood cells, hence the lethargy. My mom was pretty bad off, which she really didn't tell us how sick she was until she got done with her chemo, which really kicked some ass thank God. That has been about 2 years ago, and she has a marrow biopsy every 6 months.

[KerryEllyn]

My sister was diagnosed with Leukemia when she was 7. If it's any sort of encouragement, she just turned 36. So sorry to hear that though stay strong and you and your family will be in my prayers!