Leukemia info by reginaroadie

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Leukemia info

POSTED BY: REGINAROADIE
UPDATED: Thursday, April 21, 2005 11:55
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Thursday, April 21, 2005 6:33 AM

Hey all. I was wondering if any of you guys could help me out on something. In writing one of my fanfic series, YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN, I had established that the Tams and Kaylee are coming home to see Reagan, who is dying of leukemia. Now, I don't know jack about it. I just chose it because I figured it would be a really bad thing to die of. And I don't want to write something totally without merit, on the off chance that someone here has either had a relative or a friend who died of leukemia or is going through the leukenia process themselves and would read my story and complain how it's totally far fetched and complete bullshit.

So I was wondering if any of you guys could help me out with some info on leukemia. What exactly it is, how long a person can live with it, how weak the person is near the time they die, how much hair falls out, that sort of thing.

"NO HAI ES BANDAI. THERE IS....NO.....BAND. AND YET....WE HEAR A BAND."

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Thursday, April 21, 2005 7:19 AM

STARRBABY

I'm kinda pulling this out of my butt, so take it with a grain of salt. Hopefully someone can correct me or confirm my statement.
I don't belive the actual cancer makes one's hair fall out. I think it's the treatment: chemo.
Is this correct?

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Thursday, April 21, 2005 7:29 AM

KNIBBLET

You are correct, Starrbaby.

As for leukemia: it is a form of cancer.
Here is a link to the NIH's leukemia page. You can learn a lot and it will be factual.
http://www.nci.nih.gov/cancertopics/types/leukemia

Quote:
Originally posted by Starrbaby:
I don't belive the actual cancer makes one's hair fall out. I think it's the treatment: chemo.

"I'm gonna rip you a new puppet hole, bitch!"

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Thursday, April 21, 2005 11:22 AM

SERENMAL

My daughter had leukaemia 8 years ago when she was 13. There are two types, ALL (acute lymphoblastic, which is generally what children get) and AML (acute myloid, or mylogenous if you are in the States). The former is less aggressive and now has anything up to an 85% treatment success rate. The treatment is spread out over a couple of years. AML (and there are many types of AML depending on what part of the blood is affected)is more aggressive and the treatment is more draconian. My daughter had the latter, and we spent six months in hospital where she had five consecutive, different courses (and combinations) of chemo. With treatment there is a 50% (and increasing)success rate. Without, the sufferer fades away (possibly over a few months) as the white cell count multiplies and the red cell count diminishes and the organs cease to function. I was told that it is a fairly peaceful way to go, but the probability is that infections will be picked up in that period, and there are no neutrophils left to fight them off. Happily, my daughter is a fighter, a BDH, and she is now 21, almost 6ft tall and has a 6 month old baby boy proving that chemo doesn't always make you infertile!

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Thursday, April 21, 2005 11:49 AM

STARRBABY

Yea!!!! I like hearing success stories.

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Thursday, April 21, 2005 11:55 AM

UMBRELLA

Better give your charcter lymphoma, not leukemia, as symptoms could be funnier in the story /screen. Would be scratching for example as to skin rush, coming and going fever, also lymphoma could be cutaneous, so - visible !

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