Urquette,

Such great news that your husband has achieved remission. Sustained remission is the goal, of course. Some sub types of aml can remain in remission with chemo only. Has your husband's med team told you what type he had and if he has a specific mutation such as flt 3 or ckit?

The longer the remission, the chance of relapse decreases. For chemo
Twoyears aftertreatment ends thechanceofrelapse goes down substantially. There are several here who have remained in remission for years with induction chemo and one session of consolidation chemo. Didds in Australia comes to mind.

I know that initially you were not given a ton of hope but I pray that being in remission is so huge. I'll be praying

Blessings
Julie

It is my understanding that it means less then 5% blasts in his system. "Healthy" people can have up to 5% blasts and not have Leukemia. I believe it takes at least 20% for a diagnosis of Leukemia. My son had 80% at diagnosis. After one round of induction, he was in early remission. By the time he started his 1st consolidation chemo and had a follow-up BMB, no blasts were detected. He is considered in remission. Unfortunately, his type of AML has a very high risk of relapse (90%), so he has to have a bone marrow or stem cell transplant in hopes of a cure.

Urquette -- as you have heard from the good folks on this forum in the AML group, first thing -- this is GOOD NEWS. Any other alternative would be worse. I am a 5.5 year survivor of AML/MDS -- current age 72 and because of my age and other factors -- chemo only. Your husband may still need several -- I had three, but I understand now it can range from one to four -- consolidation rounds. These are to further assure that the mutation is not reproducing and will not in the future. So necessary in most treatments. After that it could be a transplant -- please go with the recommendations of you med team since they know best and have his best interests in mind. Please keep us up on things and let us know if you have any other questions, and stick around to help others who are just getting into things. Thanks -- daveB

Happy news for sure. Thank you for sharing it with us. As others have said there will be consolidation rounds and maybe a transplant depending on his subtype of AML, so be sure to follow the recommendations of his med team.

Hugs and prayers.

Karen

My husband is 73 and the doctor said his body could not take consolidation chemo.The induction was hard on him as far as weakness.Otherwise he did great with very little side effects. He did not get out of bed for 4 weeks. He is taking Vidaza one week a month. Also we have never been told the type of AML he has. I guess we need to ask the doctor?

Urquette,

I still recommend you pursue a second opinion. First of all, I know of several who have lived beyond one year on Vidaza so having the one year prognosis repeated over and over seems dismal. Also, I personally have experience with not being able to tolerate the standard dose of consolidation. I had a reduced dose throughout. As others have said, a seconds opinion can be accomplished virtually via medical records and pathology reports. Just my humble opinion

Praying for you and your husband
Julie

I have not been on here in over a month. My husband is doing great. We are trying to live a normal life as much as we can with AML. We went to FL for a week just to see new scenery. He goes back to the doctor this Thursday. and probably starts another round of 7 days of Vidaza. He probably will have another BMB soon. Please remember us in your prayers. Our names or Diane and Byron. Thanks

You have my family's prayers for continued remission and quality of life.

Blessings
Julie

It will be two months soon and two months is two months -- it will soon be six and then one year. I expect the Viaza is for low level -- perhaps they suspect MDS from the examination of his blood cells. My onc told me I still had MDS, but after 5.5 years, that is the least of my worries ... I am far more concerned about going out and overdoing it and having a heat stroke or something like that. Do not be surprised at his age if he gets tired in the heat especially - I can only do about 20 minutes of work in the heat -- fortunately it is getting cooler. At 72 I am not complaining -- it is probably 20 minutes more than a lot of people my (our) age can do. The trick it to back off when your body tells you to. Sounds to me that things are going well -- we will continue to pray for you and Byron and your whole family. Take care -- daveB

Thanks to all of you. His