AML - dad 75 years old

Hi  and welcome to the community but sorry to hear about your dad’s diagnosis. I am Mike Thehighlander and I help out around our blood cancer groups. I have a rare type of skin Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma but have been on my treatment journey for over 22 years.

I have talked with a number of patients and family over the years who have been in their 70s go through treatment and their condition getting into a stable position.

Blood cancers like AML are complicated and at times difficult to treat. You do need to talk with his team especially his Specialist Cancer Nurse to understand what is going on and understand hat the plan is to move this forward in a positive way. Although we can all look at statistics and think the worst my consultant always said that everyone is a statistic of one…… and back in 2013 my prognosis was not great but as my Specialist Nurse said “There is always hope until there is none”

I see you have posted a question to our nurse team and they will get back to you within 2 working days.

Lets see if some of the AML group members are looking in and can give you some first hand support.

Always around to chat ((hugs))

Thank you so much Thehighlander

It is difficult to not pay attention to the alarming statistics … 

Hi Alex

So sorry about your dad, aml can be such a devastating diagnosis as it quite often comes out of the blue. I was diagnosed a few days before my 61st birthday and was very ill . It was weeks before they could give me chemo due to infections but eventually I had chemo and gained remission. I did relapse but went on to have a transplant and now feel almost back to normal.I also know of a lady who had her transplant aged 73 and now nearly 2 years later is doing really well. Hope your dad's journey goes well xx

Thank you very much for sharing this. We find out today what the treatment options are. This entire process is horrendous. You never think it will happen to you and when it does it knocks the sails out of you. Appreciate the support 

Hello Alex sorry to hear of your father's diagnosis. I hope you have the treatment plan sorted by now. It is difficult to go through and it does depend on the type of mutation(s) that your dad has. Like others have said please dont look at google as the information is at best a year out of date. I had AML at 59 and admit I struggled at times but that was 7 years ago so they have a lot more experience now. There are some very good outcomes too. I know people will say this but please try to stay positive you and your family need to stay strong to get through this. please stay in touch, this site was my life line. 

Jackie

Jackie thank you so much for writing to me. I’m so pleased to hear you got through the other end. 
The treatment plan has now been sorted and chemo starts on Monday. I have stopped googling as it was giving me extreme anxiety. 
What treatment did you have? 

Hi Alex, I had mine in France where I was living at the time. I had three months of chemo a week of total body irradication and then the SCT. it was difficult as my French was not good enough to understand everything but I managed to get documents translated and joined this group. I went into remission after the first month of chemo so was very lucky in this respect. I had the FLTP mutation with another which helped cancel out the bad mutation. My sister who is a virologist explained that all the scientific information is out of date and so I never googled it. Now its just become part of my life. The best part is when you can plan ahead. Good luck and stay strong. 

Jackie

Thank you so much for your kind words. Appreciate it and all the best