Jeremy was diagnosed September 3 with Stage 1 chronic myeloid leukemia. As the Medically Ignorant Sister, here's my glossary of his illness.
Stage 1: Best out of four stages - it was caught early enough to treat with the best chance for a good outcome
Chronic: Better than the alternative, acute. Melanie the LPN told me why acute is worse but I forgot. I think it's more advanced or more serious or something.
Here's more from About.com (which I love):
What Is Chronic Myeloid Leukemia?
Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) is a cancer of the blood cells in the blood and bone marrow. CML develops from an acquired genetic abnormality.
During cell division some of the DNA from chromosome 9 is transferred to chromosome 22. This change is called the Philadelphia Chromosome. When this abnormality occurs, the body signals to many stem cells to develop into a type of white blood cell, called a granulocyte. Some of these granulocytes never mature. The immature granulocytes are called blasts.
As the cancerous granulocytes and blasts multiply in the blood and bone marrow, fewer healthy white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets are produced.
It seems that in Jeremy's case, it may have been just a matter of time before he developed the disease. It's nothing that was passed down from an earlier generation, nothing that could have been caused or prevented. It was just Jeremy's DNA.
We're all starting to be very grateful for a serious car accident that Jeremy was in a few years ago. It messed up his foot to the point that it still hasn't healed and requires more surgery. It was during a pre-operative appointment that the doctor found the abnormally high white blood cell count. If the accident had never happened, Jeremy's leukemia might not have manifested itself until it was much farther advanced, and then harder to treat. You just never can tell what the future holds, can you?
Jeremy started chemotherapy September 4. I pray it will "work." I'm sure he'd appreciate the prayers of anyone who'd like to offer them. Thanks in advance.