AML after treatments questions

wenzman

I had a question for people out there that have had AML and been treated with Chemotherapy. My wife finished her last round of consolidation in early August this year. She had AML M5. She has done really well thru her induction and went into remission and her 3 consolidation treatments. The only issue she has had and still bothers her is she still gets nauseous sometimes but doesn't have to vomit, just feel nauseous. Is that something that is normal to have for awhile after treatments? She was given this drug called "ARA C" for the consolidations that she got. Any help out there would be appreciated. Also, after her treatment her doctor told her to just come in every 3 weeks to get her blood checked from now on. I would have thought they would have done another bone marrow test but I assume they can tell by the blood work that she is still in remission. Anyone out there get a bone marrow test after completing all your consolidations?

TanyaC97

My husband could have
My husband could have written this about me. I too had my last treatment in Aug. Yes the nausea still happens and my joints still ache. I go every 4 weeks for bloodwork and that will tell. IF anything looks off they can tell immediately and then would most likely do another bone marrow test.

I have been told repeatedly by my onc. and the nurses that it can take a year or more to feel "normal" again.

What a great husband to be concernec and look for answers.

wenzman

TanyaC97 said:

My husband could have
My husband could have written this about me. I too had my last treatment in Aug. Yes the nausea still happens and my joints still ache. I go every 4 weeks for bloodwork and that will tell. IF anything looks off they can tell immediately and then would most likely do another bone marrow test.

I have been told repeatedly by my onc. and the nurses that it can take a year or more to feel "normal" again.

What a great husband to be concernec and look for answers.

Thank You for the quck reply on AML Questions
Tanja-

Thanks so much for the reply. I appreciate you writing back to me so quickly. Did you go through 3 or 4 consolidations? My wife had 3. She had a rough time on Consolidation #1,the second and third were lesser dose but she made it through. The 3rd one became very hard to get the med's because of the ARA C shortage in the USA. Scary, huh? Did you have a rough time going thru consolidation chemo? Did you get Fevers? She got them when her counts dropped after the 3rd consolidation.

My wife is doing better today but still has the nausea once in awhile. They have her take Prilosec and this other anti nausea med if she starts feeling sick. Her doctor has her coming every 4 weeks too for blood checks. If you ever have questions about our experience please feel free to write. I have found that this forum to be so very helpful when you can ask others who have gone thru the same illness. Hope you feel better each day.

TanyaC97

wenzman said:

Thank You for the quck reply on AML Questions
Tanja-

Thanks so much for the reply. I appreciate you writing back to me so quickly. Did you go through 3 or 4 consolidations? My wife had 3. She had a rough time on Consolidation #1,the second and third were lesser dose but she made it through. The 3rd one became very hard to get the med's because of the ARA C shortage in the USA. Scary, huh? Did you have a rough time going thru consolidation chemo? Did you get Fevers? She got them when her counts dropped after the 3rd consolidation.

My wife is doing better today but still has the nausea once in awhile. They have her take Prilosec and this other anti nausea med if she starts feeling sick. Her doctor has her coming every 4 weeks too for blood checks. If you ever have questions about our experience please feel free to write. I have found that this forum to be so very helpful when you can ask others who have gone thru the same illness. Hope you feel better each day.

I stopped after the 3rd
I stopped after the 3rd cons. round. It physically and emotionally took too much out of me. My onc. wanted to do one more, but I said NO. I was done, we had gotten it. I did have the "fevers" after my first cons. round. There were nearly fatal and I had to spend 5 days in the hospital. Funny part was my ins. company said that it was not medically necessary for me to be admitted. Um, 103 and climbing was serious. I had a blood infection of some sort.
I have made the decision to take HA (Lubrisyn is the one I am using) and it has made a world of difference in my joint pain. I did clear it with my doctor.
It is scary about the shortage of drugs. They wanted to put me on a different chemo originally, but could not get that one so they went with their second choice of Cyterabine.

yoop

Test
Hi , yes i had many BM tests (aspirations) after chemo. At 1st it was a weekly test , then slowly tapered off , over the years. That test will give your wife & doctors a heads up quickly . I was diagnosed AML 6 in 2002. A positive mental attitude is so diffucult but critical to have . Wish you all the best )

eddievas

yoop said:

Test
Hi , yes i had many BM tests (aspirations) after chemo. At 1st it was a weekly test , then slowly tapered off , over the years. That test will give your wife & doctors a heads up quickly . I was diagnosed AML 6 in 2002. A positive mental attitude is so diffucult but critical to have . Wish you all the best )

Hi Yoop and everyone
I sort of like this thread. Newly diagnosed- m5 started induction chemo on Turkey day. I plan and pray and hope to just have a few consolidation rounds and then that's it. I am not a big believer in Chemo, but every seems to think I will drop dead if I dont put this stuff in my system asap. Had a cold I couldn't shake and you all know the rest. Admitted immediately and now I sit and wait for it to kill every fast growing cell in my body.

Yours in the suffering.

Eddievas

smathlee

eddievas said:

Hi Yoop and everyone
I sort of like this thread. Newly diagnosed- m5 started induction chemo on Turkey day. I plan and pray and hope to just have a few consolidation rounds and then that's it. I am not a big believer in Chemo, but every seems to think I will drop dead if I dont put this stuff in my system asap. Had a cold I couldn't shake and you all know the rest. Admitted immediately and now I sit and wait for it to kill every fast growing cell in my body.

Yours in the suffering.

Eddievas

Hi Eddie
Hope you are doing OK. We start induction on Thursday. Sending prayers your way

wenzman

yoop said:

Test
Hi , yes i had many BM tests (aspirations) after chemo. At 1st it was a weekly test , then slowly tapered off , over the years. That test will give your wife & doctors a heads up quickly . I was diagnosed AML 6 in 2002. A positive mental attitude is so diffucult but critical to have . Wish you all the best )

Bone Marrow test weekly?
So I understand this correctly, you had a Bone Marrow test with that needle going in on a weekly basis? Wow! I asked my wife's doctor and he said we only do another bone marrow test after all the treatments are done if we suspect the blood tests look off. He said this is not something we do unless we feel blood work doesn't look correct. Now she had AML- M5, maybe that is different from M-6, but I have never heard of someone getting them that often. She has gotten blood tests allot. After being diagnosed, She only got a Bone Marrow test after induction and then she went into remission and she had her 3 consolidations. Sounds like you got them allot more often. Maybe I should be asking more questions about why he hasn't done at least one since after remission
.

TFD1

This could also be about me
I finished my 4th consolidation the end of July. It's nice to find people who are going through the exact same thing as I am. Unfortunately I was not able to have a bone marrow biopsy prior to chemo due to other complications. I do still have the occasional nausea but nothing like your wife is having. As far as labs I was originally scheduled for every three weeks but my WBC refuses to go up so I now have labs twice weekly with neupogen shots (lucky me). I only had 2 BMB, 1 on day 14 and one prior to consolidation. I was told by both my local Oncologist and the Oncologist who treated me in a much larger hospital than my home town that AML was found by labs and if I relapsed it will be picked up by labs 1st, he even explained 3 different ways to see blast in the labs.

I do have trouble with bone pain (could also be from the neupogen), neuropathy, and I suffered some vision loss. Overall I feel good. I never would have dreamed that I would have cancer art 35.