I was diagnosed with AML in May which was a complete shock as I have always been fit & healthy. I had my first round of chemo in May which went to plan. The subsequent bone marrow biopsy before my second round showed I was in remission.
I had my second round of chemo in July. My bloods have not really recovered this time around. I have had numerous blood & platelet transfusions to keep me going. I had another bone marrow biopsy about 4 weeks ago which again showed no leukaemia cells.
I was told that sometimes it does take longer for the bloods to recover. However 4 weeks on my bloods are still low & I need to go for another bone marrow biopsy to see what is going on.
I was due to have my 3rd round by now but obviously this could not happen.
I am so worried about what will happen next & how my treatment will proceed.
Has this ever happened to anyone else? if so can you advise please.
Thanks
Hi Annie_19and welcome to this corner of the Community although always sorry to see folks joining us. I am Mike Thehighlander and I help out around our blood cancer groups.
I don’t have AML but was diagnosed way back in 1999 with a rare incurable but treatable type of skin Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Stage 4a and although my blood cancer ‘type’ is different I have experienced most types of treatments used but not necessarily the exact same drug mix.
First it’s very encouraging that you have had a good response to your treatment so far. Slow blood recover is unfortunately rather normal. Over my years I have had bloods recover quickly but also have had to have blood and platelet transfusions a months delaying treatments and following my second Stem Cell Transplant for 4 months.
Have they tried any G-CSF injections to try and kickstart your bonemarrow?
((hugs))
Teams tend to look for your bloods (bone marrow) to recover without any intervention but worth talking this through with them to better understand what they see the best way forward is.
