Indolent Myeloma or What?

[hunnychile]

My doctor (his lab) will testing my blood a lot over the next 4 months to determine if I have leukemia or a form of indolent myeloma. I need to get a bone marrow test next week and wondered if others have had this test - is it as bad as some say it is?

Also, has anyone dealt with this health scare/situation before? Bottom line; my white blood sell count is very high & I'm to see a hemotologist soon too.

Any real life knowledge you all can share would be appreciated.
thanks...

[Sage]

I don't have any first hand expierence with this type of thing, but my father-in-law was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001. He had the type of leukemia that children often get, that's easy to treat in children but almost always fatal in adults. He ended up at a hospital in Houston, TX getting an expieremental chemo treatment and is the only surviving patient of that treatment (not to say the treatment is faulty, just that he's lived longer than everyone else). He's been cancer free for 3 years, and is thinking of stopping the chemo.

The best thing you can do for yourself is expidite the process of testing. Don't settle for waiting a month to know what's going on- my Father-in-law was tested and scheduled to be admitted to Duke Hospital two weeks later, but fortunately found out about an opening in the Houston hospital and went there instead. They told him that if he had waited two weeks to go to Duke he would have died. Cancer is all about early detection and treatment, so insist on only the best, most expidited course of action.

Good luck We're all here for you!

[hunnychile]

Thanks Sage for positive words. I've been busy studying this possible problem and hope to get some answers this week.