AML relapse BMT advice please!!

Hi Jesjesica.

I am so sorry you have relapsed so soon but this seems to be quite common with AML treated with chemo only. 
I relapsed five months after my last chemo it was a horrible time. That was in February 2019 ,I went on to have more chemotherapy to get me back in remission and then a bone marrow transplant in May 2019. Now two years down the line I am feeling almost normal again. Where are you being treated,I was in UHW Cardiff. I had my 62nd birthday during my transplant so age is definitely on your side. Hope everything goes smoothly for you.x

Mark

Yes it’s such an awful time right now I’m so so anxious! I am being treated at Bristol haematology and oncology centre I’m terrified the chemotherapy won’t even get me into remission before I’m even starting to worry about the actual transplant! X

Hi Jesjesica

It’s only natural for you to be so worried. How did your team know you are relapsing , was it a recent biopsy or have you been feeling unwell?

My bloods were a bit off they couldn’t see it under the normal microscope but when they ran it through the machine they found some abnormal cells so did a bone marrow biopsy

Sounds like early stages of relapse so hopefully they will soon get you back in remission. Your team will already have a plan put together and it’s great you have a donor waiting x

Thank you it was just so scary when she said if I couldn’t get into relapse my white cells are only 3.5 so still very low compared to when I was originally diagnosed which was 90! Yeh they are on top of it already I think the donors already having their injections x 

Good morning Jesica from a very wet Inverness.

I think you do need to be mentally and practically prepared for this to move rather quickly once they get you into that remission window. I find this often happens as it’s the best opportunity to help the new cells take hold and develop.

Have you been given any indication as to the conditioning they would look to use to take down your immune system leading up to SCT day?

Good morning! Not at all I have just been told I have relapsed so far I don’t even know what type of chemo they are using they are calling today to let me know depending on the leukaemia whether it will be iv or oral chemo. I’m just terrified that bit won’t even work and I won’t even get a chance

Get your questions ready for the call. Have you someone with you that can listen in? and record the call as you can review what was said.

From my long experience there is always hope and even when it was not obvious it was sitting round the corner and my team just had to find it xx

I’m still in shock to be honest I don’t even know what to say I don’t know if I want to know. How do you stay so positive I feel like it’s the end of the world to be honest