What is Acute Myelogenous Leukemia AML
Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), also known as acute myeloid leukemia, is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells. The median age of patients with AML is 70; it is rare among ...
Join Now
|
Induction Chemo effects/side effects
|
Watch this |
| View More Posts Ignore |
So my mom went through her first round of induction chemo, finishing her first 7-day course of daunarubicin & cytarabine (sp) on 3/6. Since then she's had her hair fall out (no big deal for her - she'd had her head shaved down to cue-ball the day before she went to the hospital), lots of swelling in her belly and legs, painful mouth sores (this was about the worst for her), extreme fatigue and tiredness, rashes, blurry vision with some "special effects", and a variety of infections that the doctors keep CT scanning and ultrasounding to figure out what & where they are. Thankfully, not all of this happened at once.
Presumably all this is "normal"? I'm wondering about the vision thing though - they are taking her off for yet another CT scan, this time to look for bleeds in the brain. Anyone here have experience/knowledge about something like that? Posted on 03/25/09, 03:03 pm |
| 2 Replies | Add Your Reply |
| View More Posts Ignore |
My mom started her induction on 3/6 also, what a coincidence. Most everything that you've described is similar with her side effects...fatigue, swelling, rashes, etc. She has not had the blurred vision particularly that you are describing, but in day 2 of her induction they had to stop it altogether due to a change in her speech and ability to comprehend. Turned out after CT scans and an MRI that she had a stroke. The stroke was caused by the AML, high WBC's, and she is now dealing with the effects of a stroke AND the AML! When they did the initial CT scan there were no bleeds and they had to do the MRI to actually see the stroke. If they haven't already, I would ask if they plan to follow up with an MRI as I don't think blurred vision should be a normal side effect from what I have read. I hope this helps. Good luck to you and let me know what you find out. Sounds like we are in a very similar situation supporting our mothers through this. 
|
|
|
|
||
| View More Posts Ignore |
Hi Julie,
Definitely we're in similar boats here, great to have company :-) So they did a CT scan and found nothing - I'm planning on dropping in on my mom today to dig into the blurry vision details. I had an ocular migraine about 5 years ago that sounds a lot like the visual effects she described, but that is a transient thing so I'll see if she's still experiencing it and exactly what "it" is. Thanks much for the MRI suggestion - hey, a high resolution scan that doesn't involved pouring more radiation through Mom - excellent idea! If she's in reasonable health today they'll release her to head home for a few weeks before another round of chemo...her birthday (62) is Sunday, so it might be nice to celebrate that at home rather than her swanky crib (pictures at www.caringbridge.org/visit/barbara...) at the hospital.
|
|
|
|
||
| Add Your Reply |
