My father Law has lived with CLL since he was young. He has had about 5 flare ups with it during his lifetime to which chemo was able to put it back into remission. About a month ago we were told he now has ALL. And this is a very fast acting leukemia. He will begin taking vencixta. He will alternate this with regular chemo. My father n law is 74 with an extremely low white count at this moment. Just trying to prepare myself and my husband for what he’s about to go through. I know each case is different depending on the individual. But just seeing if anyone can give us a little insight on what to expect.
Hi Mesmith_73
welcome to the ALL section of the forum although of course sorry you find yourself here. I was a lot younger than your father in law when I was diagnosed so my treatment plan was different and I ended up having a stem cell transplant.
i haven’t heard of vencixta and a google search didn’t bring anything up.. I did have a chemo called vincristine so wondered if this was the name or a derivative of it?
‘At one point I did take oral tablet based chemo for around 12 weeks ( I had a reaction to one of the chemos and this caused pancreatitis so I had these while recovering before my transplant) and they were fine to take and didn’t have any side effects.
‘As with any chemo treatments there isn’t any reason for your father in law to feel sick as the anti sickness meds are really good as long as you find the one that works for you. So if he is given one that doesn’t work keep asking fir a different one until you get one that does.
‘With the treatment overall being quite different to mine, (I had UKALL14) it is difficult to know what to tell you to expect. I always found the clinical nurse specialists CNS were good to talk to about this type of thing and they always seemed to make time to chat to you. Also you could try the Macmillan help line below and speak to one of the nurses who will have more information about treating older patients within ALL.
if you have any specific questions please ask them and hopefully between us we can answer them for you.
Paul
You can speak to someone in confidence by calling Macmillan Support on 0808 808 0000 - 365 days a year 8am to 8pm It's free from mobiles and landlines. The friendly team are waiting to take your call.
