Hello everybody,
Just like some of you, I was recently Dx. with CML. My whole life changed in matter of hours after doing a blood work up. My symptoms were bruising with large bumps on my skin. My wife works @ the hospital where we did my blood work, so she had access to my results right away. She called crying and I knew something was wrong and had an idea about what she was about to say. So I held my breath while she cryed and then she began telling that most likely I have cancer. My white blood count was over 359000. We didn't know what kind at that time, we just knew something wasn't right. The lab results said that I had cancer cells floating in my blood and spreading. We had a call from a oncologist soon affter all that, they said we needed to go in right away, and the next thing we knew, I was laying on a table with my ass hanging out and getting a thick needle drilled in my bones. I cryed and cryed really loud while I held my wifes hand, she too was crying with me so much that a nurse had to come in and console her. I will never forget that moment. Next I was given a high dose of oral chemo- therapy to bring my WBC down. It worked, but as some of you guys know, there were some side effects that came along with it. I was bed ridden for two week, fever, mouth sores, N/V, ect....... I then was switched to sprycel, I think i had a worse reaction to sprycel than the Hydrea that I was on. I felt my head wanting to explode, vomiting all night with major night sweats plus more.....
Talk about wanting to die, I really did at that moment. I saw myself blowing my head with my 9mm, but I could not do it. Leaving my wife and kids was not an option, I love them so so much! We are now a closer family from all that has happened. Its really strange how things work out. I still have side effects from the sprycel, but everybody says it should get better as days go by. I dont understand how i can take chemo the rest of my life, when that damn bag says," Caution Chemo therapy Agents, with a Bio Hazard sign on it. It doen't make any sense to me, I have issues taking it every night. My only worry now is my caregiver, who, is my wife. She is the strong hold of the family, she struggles with many things. We laugh and say things like," she is going to write a book on how she survived Autism, down-syndrome and leukemia. Yes, its true, my son has Autism, my daughter down-syndrome and I, Leukemia. Wow! Lots on her plate. Does anyone have words of wisdom for my wife?