4 replies to this topic

[Bryan_kilgore]

I am really confused by my doctors. Maybe someone on here can help. I have been diagnosed with CML, when I first went to the dr because I was losing my sight, I found out that I have several he hemorrhages behind my eyes, my white count was 444,000, my spleen was the size of two footballs, I was extremely tired barely Able to make it to work and back home. I was told I was in blast crisis, after being in the hospital for a week they released me with CML and as of today my white count is down to 42,000. Everything I read on this sight says that my stage is blast crisis but my dr said it was chronic when I was released. This is really confusing for my wife and I.

[pammartin]

Hi Brian. Soon there will be many knowledgeable people helping you with your question. I admit to being clueless to your situation. This is a great group, you have found a good place. Support is on the way.

I am always curious when I see the Kilgore name. It is my maiden name. I belong to the Kilgore clan from Kittanning PA but originating in the state of Tennessee. Many of my relatives are Bowsers also from Kittanning. Any of those names or places ring a bell?
Pam

[August1]

Hi Bryan, welcome to the group. As Pam mentioned you've found a good place and there are a lot of very knowledgeable people here. Glad to hear that you're on a course of treatment and that your counts are dropping. 

 

Blast Crisis and Chronic phase are certainly two different phases of CML. I would be curious to know if blast crisis was confirmed at the time of our diagnosis via blood work and bone marrow biopsy or if it was just something that was was mentioned as a possibility?

 

If it was confirmed at diagnosis treatment options can vary but the first goal is to get you back to chronic phase where the disease is more manageable. That usually includes treating you with a TKI medication (Gleevac, Sprycel, Tasigna, etc.) to get your white-blood-cell and blast-cell counts back down to a more manageable level.

 

So you can start in one phase, and then with treatment, you can return to a previous phase, which allows more treatment options. That seems to be happening for you, which is a great thing. 

 

If you were in blast crisis at diagnosis I would think there would be a follow up plan for you now that you're back in Chronic Phase. Have they discussed your follow options with you?

[PhilB]

Do you have the blast counts from your original diagnosis that lead them to say you were in blast phase?  That's probably going to be one of the first questions our resident expert is going to ask you when he happens along.  The other thing that may be relevant is your age and general state of health as the best choice of treatment will probably be different is you're 25 to if you're 93.

[Trey]

Some Oncs do not know how to classify Blast Phase, so that is one issue to consider.  Although your WBC was extremely high at diagnosis, that alone does not indicate Blast Phase.  The primary indicator of Blast Phase is the blast count at diagnosis.  If your blast count was above 20% in the marrow that would indicate Blast Phase.  Very high basophil levels can also be an indicator when blast count is also high.

 

TKI drugs can sometimes reduce Blast Phase symptoms back to Chronic Phase symptoms.  However, the patient is often at higher risk of relapse having been in Blast Phase.  You should be taking either Sprycel or Tasigna (not Gleevec) because of this.