NEW DX Myeloproliferative Disorder

Hi Ron's daughter,
I'm sorry to see that your post isn't getting any replies. I'm usually on the ovarian cancer board (since I was diagnosed with that 9 months ago) where I'm used to posts being answered the same day, usually by several people. My Mom was diagnosed with early signs of Leukemia last week, and I figured this would be a great place to find answers and support, but this board is surprisingly quiet.

Anyway, my Mom lives in Europe, so it's difficult for me to get a clear picture on her diagnosis. She said it's too early for them to know exactly what type of leukemia it is, so I'm trying to prepare for the worst case scenario. From what I've read, the outlook can be very different depending on which type it is, varying from having just a couple of months left if it's the acute form, to as much as 7 years on the average if it's the chronic. It's hard to know what to do or even say to her without knowing exactly what's going on. The only specifics I could get from her is that her current white cell count is 25,000 and that there are a lot of immature white cells in her blood. My mom said that there's no treatment for her illness, just as in your Dad's situation. She's 80, so I wonder if age has something to do with that. Assuming that it's the slowly progressing form of this disease, I guess it doesn't make much sense to put someone at that age through chemo, and/or other treatments which can be very difficult, just to gain a little time.

I don't know how much online research you've done, but the websites I've found most helpful so far are:

http://clltopics.org/Primer.htm

and

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/chronic-lymphocytic-leukemia/DS00565/DSECTION=1

If you would like to keep in touch and compare notes regarding our parents, that would be great.

Take care,
~Marianna~