Today my doctor came in with the not-so-great extensive results from my bone marrow biopsy last month. Not-so-great, but it could be worse. It turns out the level of my cancer is "intermediate". So. Basically? I have a 40% chance of still being alive in 3 years. If I get a successful stem cell transplant, my chances of still being alive at the point go up to 50-55%. Not great, but as my doctor pointed out, things could be much, much worse. I'm basically right in the middle. Something else I found out is that stem cell transplants can actually be quite dangerous--there are a lot of risks involved that can result in death. Lovely. He told me it's completely up to me if I want the transplant, but I definitely want one if it's going to raise my chances of survival by 15%! Besides, I was under the impression I was getting one anyway. Originally they were going to wait until they found out if my sister was a match, but they're no longer waiting for that. They're going to start searching the data banks as soon as I give my written consent. They didn't tell me when they're giving me the forms---it better be soon! I'm ready to give my consent right now, dammit!
I also found out some other stuff about my cancer. I've only had it for a few months--that's how fast and aggressive it is. Wow. That makes sense to me, as it was a few months ago when I first started to feel short of breath.
Also, they have no idea what caused it. The number one cause for leukemia is age; the average age to develop my kind of leukemia is apparently 68. I'm only 32, so obviously that's not the reason. Another possibility for developing leukemia is being exposed to industrial chemicals, or being treated for other cancers, neither of which apply to me. So no one has any idea what caused my leukemia. As my doctor pointed out, lung cancer is caused by too much smoking, liver cancer is caused by too much drinking, diabetes is caused by not eating properly, but leukemia is caused by ????????. I like the analogy he gave--it's like the cancer opened up a phone book, chose a random name, and said, "YOU!"
This whole thing about being so young to develop leukemia should work in my favour. He said age is really on my side. Also, I don't have many mutated genes, so that should help in finding a stem cell match. If I can get a transplant and if the transplant goes well, and if I can make it to three years, I have a good chance of living a LOT longer. So let's do this!
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