Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) Support Group
Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), also known as acute myeloid leukemia, is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells. Patients with AML usually present with symptoms such as fatigue, bleeding, infection, prompting medical attention. An abnormal blood test reading will then result in further testing in a hospital with a hematologist to determine AML.
Every now and then, Keir will just feel fatigued and I've noticed his general stamina is not what it was prior to his illness. Of course, I get alarmed with every episode of fatigue, since i'm forever fearing relapse. I feel i can be quite open here so forgive me if I sound whiny. I know how fortunate Keir has been. But it is so hard not to look at every little symptom and think, 'is this serious? how can I tell?" Since fatigue is so vague, and quite normal for people who are healthy as well as for people who are post bmt, how do others deal with it psychologically?
Keir is only about what, 18 months out? Even though he's young and strong, it's still quite early in the recovery process. Fatigue is the single most common long term side effect of a stem cell transplant. I know many people on the LLS board, granted all much older than Keir but not elderly, that are as much as 10 years out or more and still are easily fatigued. Many have not even returned to work. AML treatment, including the stem cell transplant, is about the most abuse our bodies will ever experience, especially those of you who went through myeloablative conditioning. He may never have the same energy that he had before, but so what? As long as it doesn't prevent him from leading a normal life the trade off seems reasonable. As long as he doesn't plan on running any marathons or triathalons he'll be fine.
As for my experience with it, my energy is a little less than where I was before I got sick. I'm in my 33rd month post transplant. I'm also 3 years older than I was at diagnosis so some of my reduced energy can be attributed to age. And it never really bothered me mentally, surprisingly so because it seems everything is a mental challenge to me. I never associated fatigue with relapse, maybe because that was never one of the symptoms I remembered from when I was diagnosed, maybe because I was prepared for it from talking with my doctors and nurses.
I know how you are, Lori. You're a worrier like me and most of us on this board. But this is pretty much the most normal side effect of the treatment we go through. Good luck, take care of yourself and come back often.
Lou
I agree with Lou -- in my case because of my age I never expect to get back to where I was before AML. But there are many who are younger who seem to make almost a full recovery. Please be patient -- recovery is slow -- it might take another six months or a year. daveB
Is he getting enough exercise? If not, he should find some form of exercise that he enjoys and do it often. I do to probably extremes, but I don't have the fatigue because of it and I know I do better mentally because of it.
Wish I could help with the worrying aspect, but I only have the patients perspective, I know how I feel, it's got to be way harder not knowing for sure how he feels physically and if its normal or not.
Prayers sent your way.
DaveJ
DaveJ
just a part of the healing process. Let's face it, AML is not a simple illness. it takes quite a bit of time to cleanse our bodies of all the goodies we received during the treatment. Best way to deal with it: all of the known remedies - good nutrition, exercise, plenty of sleep/rest, stress management, plenty of fresh air, limiting partying ;-) ....
if I feel not myself, i often ask for a blood test. mostly to self-assure myself that all is well.
it's been 32 months since my BMT and I'm still improving. Takes about 3 months to notice new improvements, so it is a slow pace. One thing that I don't handle as well as I used to is the stress at work. If it is too much, I start feeling ill. Never been the case before AML. Not a big deal, just need to be more thoughtful about it.
bless ya' all
b.