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.

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chicagomomof3 07/28/2015

Has anyone had experience needing new vaccines? I have small children (age 1,3,5) starting preschool and kindergarten and my hem/onc said I may need updated vaccines for measles, chicken pox etc. she said the chemo could have knocked all previous immunities out. Anyone else dealt with this?

louzac 07/28/2015

Hi Chicagomom. As you might know, I'm a sct patient but I started on my "baby" vaccines about 8 months ago, about 2 years post transplant. I know most people start on them about a year after transplant, I'm not sure why my doctor delayed mine. Anyway, I think it's pretty common and not necessarily limited to those of us who have had transplants.

Lou

Noodle65 07/28/2015

Tammy,

Thank you for bringing this up. I knew sct recipients redo their vaccines but I had no idea that chemo only may need then redone as well. I plan to discuss this with my med team. I must admit that I am confident that my immune system is pretty robust. After 3+ weeks in europe in every grubby, dirty sub way, bus, taxi, cruise ship, ferry ect without a single illness. Even with relatively low wbc and ANC I have stayed so healthy. Strange. Thanks for bringing this to my attention

Julie

worriedmom2014 07/29/2015

I too knew that SCT patients had to redo their childhood shots and had not heard about chemo only having to do them, but it does make sense that you may need you redo them.

Hugs and prayers

Karen

vakmom 07/29/2015

We asked about this also after Vince finished all of his chemo. He is active duty military so has had a crap ton (is that a measurement?) of vaccines. We were told he does not need to repeat any of his vaccinations since he was chemo only. His immunity against the illnesses he was vaccinated against are still there. Please ask your med team too, I would also like to know what they say about it.

:) julie

mtnbyker 07/29/2015

I had to redo mine but was also a SCT patient. In the transplant they kill off your old immune system with the chemo and replace it with your donors. I am also interested in what they have to say with a chemo only patient.

leapea1208 07/30/2015

Never heard of this. Ask them to run an immunoglobulin panel, from a simple blood draw, to check your immunities, but they shouldn't really been wiped out by 4 rounds of hi-dac,
That said, side note-our favorite heme doctor/fellow just took a job at Loyola and starts in Aug. her name is Stephanie Tsai, if you ever run into her at clinic say hello! she is a true rising star in the heme/bmt world and took the absolute best care of my husband Tony

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