Dad to start chemo Mon

[Millie]

Hi all. I have been lurking here for the past months and I can’t tell you how much you’ve all helped me already. I am writing today because I’m so scared for my dad. He was just told on Fri that he has full blown Leukemia and will have to start a pretty harsh round of chemo for the next month in the hospital. The doctor wanted to admit him yesterday but he decided to take the weekend and live it up. The doctor did tell him that he could do nothing and have 6 months to live but he has choosen the hospital stay which was previously the worst thing that could happen to him in his mind. I live in another state so I am pretty frustrated, scared, and sad about this whole thing. I don’t know what to expect and what will come next. The only thing that has brought me comfort these past months has been all of your posts. I just thought that I’d add my dads stats to the list in hopes that it might be able to help someone else out.

[Mary4Mike]

Millie,

Welcome! Like you, I am also new to this forum. I read the posts a long time before I joined in to this wonderful, ongoing dialogue. There is a lot to learn here even if it is suggestions on ways to stop nose bleeds, medication side effect experiences, etc.

I am so sorry to hear about your dad. Please keep us up to date on his progress.

I will keep you and your father in my prayers.

Mary

[Millie]

Your prayers are very much appreciated. This site has been very helpful. My dad had lost his appetite and it wasn’t until I came the the site and realized that there is a medication that can help with that.

[jaxem]

millie
what is meant by “full blown leukemia”? i get more & more confused about distinctions between MDS & AML. the only difference I knew previously was that if blast counts progress to 20%, the barrier is reached between MDS & AML. Not completely true in that ALL forms of MDS can progress to AML. what has changed that the doc is now calling his mds, aml?
I clipped the following from an MD Anderson article:

“Classification Systems in MDS
The most difficult problems in MDS are its morphological diagnosis, access to cytogenetic testing, and therefore application of the different classification systems. These include the FAB1 and WHO2 classifications and the most clinically relevant IPSS3 score. This latter scoring system incorporates percentage of blasts, number of cytopenias and chromosomal alterations to predict overall survival and probability of transformation to AML based on the age of the patient. Despite being more comprehensive and dynamic than the FAB and WHO classifications, it has become apparent that the IPSS has limitations in predicting prognosis of patients with lower-risk MDS. Also several groups have now presented data with more refined cytogenetic classifications4.”

what Anderson is saying is that changes in classifications are forthcoming. i hope so because they are confusing.

any idea what kind of chemo protocol (induction phase) he will be going on such as MEC? you’re right! most of them are very harsh & tough for an older person. some institutions are doing amazing things for older adults such as HDAC inhibitors added to hypomethylating drugs such as vidaza or dacogen. hopefully, some members of this forum will expand on their personal experiences.

good luck to your dad.

[Millie]

The doctor ran a bmb and his blasts were at 65% (does that sound high?) Then he said that my dad had progressed to AML and one of his choices was to start chemo right away. The type of chemo he is on is ACA-C. Not to sure if that is correct. I am getting this info from my parents who were pretty torn up at the time.

The classifications are very hard to read. And it seems from the info I gather in the chat room that trying to gauge seriousness of the disease from these charts is misleading. Anything they can do to clarify would be helpful.

I do have to say that my dad is in very high spirits. He and my step mom had a GREAT weekend at the casino. He bought a pair of MSU sweat pants to wear in the hospital so he doesn’t look like a “patient”. So on the mental front he is the best one can possibly be in this situation. I am off to see him on Thursday so I can get/give a hug!

[jaxem]

millie
again, anything over 20% is considered aml; below is mds. that’s a pretty high blast count but i’ve heard of a lot worse. with the right chemo protocol, that should come down. the chemo drug is ara-C & is the mainstay for all blood chemos. usually it’s alternated with other chemo drugs in the protocol. they probably started him with vidaza because of his age & difficulty older adults have with chemo drugs. i imagine he had an initial bmb that had a lower blast %age which predicated the use of vidaza.

i hope he won at the casinos. all the luck in the world to him in treating his disease.

[pigduck]

Dear Millie,

Hello first of all…

There is a forum at http://ubb-lls.leukemia-lymphoma.org/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro&BypassCookie=true that may help answer a lot of leukaemia concerns. I am assuming your father has AML? It is a very welcoming forum and I hang out there quite a bit.

[Author]

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