Our very common story - Part 1

2010-07-06T20:25:00.005-05:00

My husband and I met a few years ago. I was born and raised in a different country and when I met him, it was just love at first sight. I had a very successful career, one Master and the equivalent of an Executive MBA, and I was living a pretty good life back home. Anyhow, when we decided to get married, we also decided I will move to the US….why? simple, we never doubted I could get a wonderful job and continue my career, we felt it was the right thing to do and also simply because he asked me to. He didn’t want to move to my country, he wanted to stay here in the territory he knows and is familiar to him.

So I quit my job, sold all my stuff and moved here. Immediately after, I got pregnant! That was the biggest blessing ever. Then it became a double blessing, because we learned I was pregnant with twins!. Life was good in general. Although I have to confess it was hard for me to get used to living here in the US. Everything was different. Back home a lady will come every week and clean my house and cook my meals. She would also wash and iron all my clothes so that means I had help all the time. My parents came and help me after my kids were born for about three weeks and wasn’t enough. I’m glad I have a type A personality, and although I cried and fuzz (probably more because of the postpartum depression than because anything else) I manage to get by daily with the fact of having to deal with two newborns at the same time by myself.

With time we moved to a bigger place (always certain it would be really easy for me to get a job – after all I am really good at what I do) and I started looking for a job….that hasn’t come yet, three years into my search.

I never understood (until a couple of weeks ago) the reason why I got so many interviews and never got a job. I thought “oh well, maybe people are really racists here after all” or simply thought “how unlucky am I?” Now I understand that my deep ignorance of the system has kept me away from that job, but I will give you details on this when the time comes. For now, this is my part of the story.

On the other hand, my husband worked for the same employer for 5 years before being diagnosed. He got tons of recognition and was awarded as one of the top two employees of his department for a couple of years in a row. Just so you have an idea of how big this company is, last year it had over 3000 employees and my husband’s department had more than 700 people alone. It was all wonderful until he got sick.

I will continue with the story of how he got sick on my next entry…

Important background info

2010-07-03T16:52:00.003-05:00

Although this information might seem too technical for the purpose of this blog, it is very important in understanding the situation. Please take the time to read it, Thanks!

All the information has been taken from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society web page and the National Marrow Donor Program web page.

What is leukemia?
Leukemia is a malignant disease (cancer) of the bone marrow and blood. It is characterized by the uncontrolled accumulation of blood cells. Leukemia is divided into four categories: myelogenous or lymphocytic, each of which can be acute or chronic. The terms myelogenous or lymphocytic denote the cell type involved. There are four major types of leukemia.

This page provides an overview of the different types of leukemia. For detailed information about each of the types, click on the specific disease links below.

    * Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML)
    * Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL)
    * Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML)
    * Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)

The terms lymphocytic or lymphoblastic indicate that the cancerous change takes place in a type of marrow cell that forms lymphocytes. The terms myelogenous or myeloid indicate that the cell change takes place in a type of marrow cell that normally goes on to form red cells, some types of white cells, and platelets.

Acute lymphocytic leukemia and acute myelogenous leukemia are each composed of blast cells, known as lymphoblasts or myeloblasts. Acute leukemias progress rapidly without treatment.

Chronic leukemias have few or no blast cells. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia and chronic myelogenous leukemia usually progress slowly compared to acute leukemias.

What is AML?
"Acute myelogenous leukemia" (AML) is a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. In AML, the bone marrow makes many unformed cells called blasts. Blasts normally develop into white blood cells that fight infection. However, the blasts are abnormal in AML. They do not develop and cannot fight infections. The bone marrow may also make abnormal red blood cells and platelets. The number of abnormal cells (or leukemia cells) grows quickly. They crowd out the normal red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets the body needs.”

Symptoms
The symptoms of AML are caused by low numbers of healthy blood cells and high numbers of leukemia cells. White blood cells fight infection. Low numbers can lead to fever and frequent infections.

    * Red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body. Low numbers can lead to anemia — feeling tired or weak, being short of breath and looking pale.
    * Platelets control bleeding. Low numbers can lead to easy bleeding or bruising and tiny red spots under the skin (petechiae).
    * High numbers of leukemia cells may cause pain in the bones or joints.

A person with AML may feel generally unwell and run-down. He or she may also have other, less common symptoms.

Prognosis
AML Prognosis: Survival Rates

Survival rates can be calculated by different methods for different purposes. The acute myeloid leukemia survival rates presented here are based on the relative survival rate. The relative survival rate measures the survival of cancer patients in comparison to the general population to estimate the effect of cancer. The overall 5-year relative acute myeloid leukemia (AML) survival rate for 1995-2001 was 19.8 percent.

The 5-year relative AML survival rates by race and sex were:

    * 17.9 percent Caucasian men
    * 20.6 percent Caucasian women
    * 25.5 percent African American men
    * 19.2 percent African American women.

Treatment Options for AML
AML can get worse quickly, so doctors usually begin treatment right away. To plan treatment, doctors look at a patient's risk factors (also called prognostic factors). Risk factors are patient and disease traits that clinical studies have linked to better or worse outcomes from treatment. Examples of risk factors are a patient's age and subtype of AML. To learn more about AML risk factors as well as how treatment options may differ for children or for adults older than age 60.

For a patient with AML, the treatment plan may include:

    * Chemotherapy — drugs that destroy cancer cells or stop them from growing (described below).
    * A bone marrow or cord blood transplant (described below).
    * All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) if he or she has the subtype of AML known as promyelocytic leukemia.
    * Other newer treatments that were recently developed or are still being studied in clinical trials — you can ask your doctor whether any newer treatments may be options for you.

Whichever treatment you and your doctor choose, you may be asked to be part of a clinical trial. Even standard treatments continue to be studied in clinical trials. These studies help doctors learn more about which treatments work best for which patients.

Chemotherapy for AML

Induction chemotherapy

For most patients, the standard first phase of AML treatment is induction chemotherapy. The goal of induction chemotherapy is to bring the disease into remission. Remission is when the patient's blood counts return to normal and bone marrow samples show no sign of disease (less than 5% of cells are leukemia cells).

Induction chemotherapy is very intense. It usually lasts one week, followed by three or more weeks for the patient to recover from the treatment. Often two drugs are used:

    * Cytarabine (ara-C)
    * An anthracycline drug such as daunorubicin (Daunomycin) or idarubicin (Idamycin)

Some patients may also be given additional drugs or different drugs. Patients who have the AML subtype promyelocytic leukemia also are given all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA).

If one week of treatment does not bring a remission, treatment may be repeated once or twice. Induction brings a complete remission in:

    * About 70% to 80% of adults under age 60.
    * About 50% of adults over age 60.
    * More than 90% of children.

Successful induction chemotherapy destroys most of the leukemia cells, but a few will be left in the body. If these cells are not destroyed, they can cause a relapse of the disease. More treatment is needed to destroy the remaining leukemia cells. The next step may be consolidation chemotherapy or a transplant, depending on the treatment plan.

Consolidation chemotherapy

The second phase of chemotherapy is often called consolidation chemotherapy. The goal of consolidation chemotherapy is to destroy any remaining leukemia cells. A common treatment is high doses of cytarabine (ara-C) given in three or more cycles. Doctors may also use different drugs and schedules.

Consolidation chemotherapy is used to treat many patients with AML. It is the standard treatment at first remission for adults with low-risk cytogenetic factors (changes in the chromosomes of leukemia cells), especially adults younger than age 60.

Bone marrow or cord blood transplant for AML
For some patients, a bone marrow or cord blood transplant may offer the best chance for a long-term remission. A transplant is a strong treatment with risks of serious side effects, so it is not used for all patients with AML. A transplant is used when chemotherapy alone is unlikely to provide a long-term remission.

Autologous transplant

An autologous transplant uses blood-forming cells collected from the patient. If an autologous transplant is a treatment option for you, you will have blood-forming cells collected from your blood stream. The cells are usually collected after one or two cycles of consolidation treatment. The cells are frozen until you are ready for transplant. You may receive an autologous transplant soon after your induction therapy is completed, or your cells may be saved as a backup option in case you relapse after receiving consolidation chemotherapy.

Autologous transplants have risks of serious side effects, but these risks are lower than for allogeneic transplants. However, a patient has higher risks of a leukemia relapse after an autologous transplant. This is because leukemia cells may be returned to the patient along with his or her blood-forming cells.

Allogeneic transplant

An allogeneic transplant replaces the abnormal cells in a patient's bone marrow with healthy blood-forming cells from a family member or unrelated donor or cord blood unit. An allogeneic transplant has a higher risk of serious side effects than consolidation chemotherapy or an autologous transplant. However, the risk of relapse is lower after an allogeneic transplant.

Choosing a donor or cord blood unit

If an allogeneic transplant may be an option for you, your doctor will do a test to find out your HLA tissue type. Your doctor will also test possible donors in your family to find out if they are a suitable match for you.

In adults in good health with standard AML and a matched sibling, and allogeneic transplant may be considered after remission with induction therapy.

If you do not have a suitable donor in your family, your doctor can search the Be The MatchSM Registry for an unrelated donor or cord blood unit. To save time, your doctor may check for potential donors on the registry at the same time he or she is testing for donors in your family.

The closeness of the donor match can affect a patient's chances of a good transplant outcome. In general, transplants using matched sibling donors have had the best results. However, outcomes for unrelated donor transplants have improved in the last decade. For some groups of patients, outcomes for sibling donor and unrelated donor transplants are similar.

Reduced-intensity and non-myeloablative transplants

For some people with AML, an allogeneic transplant may offer the best chance for a long-term remission. However, more than half of people with AML are over age 60. Many people older than age 60 are unable to tolerate the intense treatment of a standard transplant. People with other health problems, such as heart disease or organ damage from previous chemotherapy, may also be unable to tolerate a standard transplant. An allogeneic transplant using less intense treatment may be an option for some of these patients. This type of transplant is called a reduced-intensity transplant or non-myeloablative transplant.

Transplant success rates
Transplants have risks of serious complications, but a transplant offers some patients the best chance for a long-term remission. If transplant is an option for you, your doctor can talk with you about the possible risks and benefits of a transplant.

AML under the microscope

2010-07-02T21:51:00.008-05:00

Picture of Blasts
Immature white cells that evidence AML

AML Victim

Our very common story - Part 1

Important background info

AML under the microscope