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Different Treatments to Treat Mantle Cell Lymphoma

December 30th, 2008 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

Lymphoma is a serious affection which affects different parts of the body and usually occurs in many forms. One of the most severe form of is known as Mantle cell . In addition to this, Mantle cell is a rare form of Non-Hodgkin which tends to develop and spread very fast to other organs of the body. Due to the fact that Mantle cell spreads very fast to different parts of the body, treatments of this type of affection should be good enough to reach to all the infected cells. Unlike which is the main form of treatment, bringing successfully results, other treatments, such as surgery or radiation therapy are not enough useful to reduce the cancer.

To begin with, has proved to be the most efficient treatment to treat Mantle cell . Chemotherapy can be administrated in the form of injections, drips in the veins or even tablets. Much more, a treatment for this affection may include different types of drugs and the doses depend on the patient condition. In most cases, the treatments prescribed include the CHOP regimen, a combination of four drugs which is taken in a single day and repeated every three weeks for six ot eight cycles. Even though, brings important results, the disease may occur again. In order to prevent a recidivism of Mantle cell , specialists use to prescribe combinations, such as treatments for leukemias. On the other hand, these combinations of might be very toxic for some patients who suffer from Mantle cell .

Secondly, another efficient treatment includes monoclonal antibodies such as Rituximab, usually used to treat Non-Hodgkin and Mantle cell as well. Another way to treat Mantle cell which tends to be a hard procedure and not widely practiced is the bone marrow or stem-cell transplant. Radiation is another procedure which is usually used when the disease is not very severe. Much more as it is known that this disease affects many areas of the body, radiation is not the best choice.

In conclusion, even though mantle cell tends to be an incurable disease, treatments for this affection have the role in prolonging and improving the life of the patients. Nowadays many new treatments are being tested and much more clinical trials may help the patient considerably.

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Decisions Upon Leukemia Treatment

December 25th, 2008 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

Very often persons without any disease symptoms whatsoever are diagnosed with chronic myeloid Leukemia during a routine blood testing. Unlike the acute forms of Leukemia, the chronic form develops an increased number of white blood cells which can still work normally in spite of their high rate of division. This aspect is responsible of the mild onset of the disease but the negative impact is due to the impossible stopping of the white cell production.

The most effective treatment in these cases is a bone marrow transplant that still implicates risks that make it inaccessible to many of the Leukemia patients. A series of other different therapy methods are available that mostly implicate high challenges in deciding upon the right one.

The increased production of immunity white blood cells is caused by an abnormal chromosome called Philadelphia that allows the bone marrow to produce irregular cells with a very rapid multiplication rate inside the bloodstream. Most of the chronic myeloid patients are taken by surprise by diagnose as they have no clinical manifestations.

The actual development of the disease is mostly unknown but physicians usually use the number of white blood cells to predict the further course of the Leukemia; a further identification of abnormal cells inside the bone marrow has a negative prognosis. Another important clinical sign is the increase of some organ’s size (especially spleen) due to an accumulation of white cells inside their tissues.

The most efficient treatment is the injection of healthy cells from a compatible donor inside the bone marrow. It has the highest chances of curing the patients but also the most many side-effects. The second therapy method is the targeted therapy with Gleevec but its curative potential is not yet well established as it has been available only since 2001. A treatment way with benefic results until this time is the immune sustaining Interferon. Other possible cures are in course of development but are not yet approved.

Patients requesting a treatment for Leukemia always expect to be cured after the therapy. The most efficient treatment is the bone marrow transplant with also the most high risks and side-effects. Other possible cures are still in process of experimentation and their capacity to provide a definitive cure is unknown. A series of years are required to determine their exact benefit.

A patient choosing to undergo a bone marrow transplant must be matched with an available donor and take a cure with immuno depressives who may cause a series of infections due to the decreased capacity of defense of the organism. A patient must be well informed about the risk and the cure statistics before choosing to suffer a transplant. This therapy is the most appropriate for young patients but is not recommended for elder persons with other pathological conditions.

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The Pluck Factor

December 10th, 2008 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

Plucky (pluk’e) adj. Brave and spirited; courageous.

Have you ever noticed how few people possess radiating energy? How eyes lack sparkle and how few real smiles there are out there? How almost no one looks you in the eyes when you talk or how few people have truly gracious social skills? One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the lack of charisma or magnetism or exuberance among people everywhere!

So when I met Lorraine and Cam, I was immediately drawn to their energy. To their lit-up eyes, frequent laughter and bubbly personalities. Now they’re not particularly bubbly as in “effervescent.” No, they are actually more on the subdued side. But when one talks to them, their eyes twinkle. They smile when they talk. They maintain fabulous eye contact. Good upbringing? Perhaps. I’ve met both of their parents, even though one set lives in Scotland and the other in England (and we live up here in Connecticut in New England) and they are, indeed, darling people.

It’s even more amazing that we were drawn to each other with laughter and happy-talk considering the common thread that brought us together in the first place: . Their sixteen-month-old daughter, Katie, was diagnosed just before our seventeen-year-old son, Nick, was. Both children are treated by the same team of doctors. We met, for the first time, in the west wing of Yale’s Children’s Hospital. All of us were scared and admittedly, in a rather sad state.

Yet we continued, throughout treatments for our kids, to help each other get through them. I chased Katie around the chemo clinic when Lorraine and Cam were simply too worn out to do so, or held her when she needed a finger-stick and kicked the nurses too hard to get it done; we read stories together and sometimes she let me rock her to sleep. We colored, watched Dora the Explorer and played with puzzles. Cam engaged Nick in talk or made coffee and bagel runs for all of us. Lorraine kept me company and together, we helped keep each other’s spirits high.

They are back at the hospital, this time at Sloan Kettering, as Katie has undergone a bone marrow transplant this past week. It required weeks of pre-transplant consultations, tests, radiation and chemo. It also required Lorraine and Cam to temporarily set up house in New York City, in a rental apartment a couple blocks from Katie’s hospital room.

Some of us might complain about the difficulty of this situation. About lack of personal time, poor hospital food for weeks on end. Of watching our own children endure rigorous testing and annoying, seemingly endless blood work. Of the unfairness of the circumstances.

But not Lorraine and Cam. They maintain a positive attitude and continue to deal with every little detail with spunky, feisty attitude. They possess an enormously high “Pluck Factor.” They have a “to-heck-with-you-attitude” when people get in their way. They trudge through their days with laughter and verve. Hospital food the pits? No worries. Lorraine brings to Katie’s hospital room a crock pot along with bags full of groceries. When nurses wander in from the aroma of a slow-cooking roast and firmly let her know that she’s breaking all the rules, she tells them that she’s not dealing with the crummy food they’re trying to serve her. When little Katie does something adorable, Lorraine sends out an email blast for all of us to enjoy the moment. During the actual transplant, a video was made and we all got to witness closely (albeit from a distance) what it was really like. The video clips were amazing…..And afterwards? She and Cam celebrated with champagne and scrumptious food at a local French bistro.

Forget sad faces and going along with the ho-hum motions that most people simply accept as part of the circumstances. Lorraine and Cam have decided to maintain a spirit of resolve and a completely positive mental attitude in order to get through these days with grace. They let no one, and nothing, stand in their way. Katie’s well-being is their over-riding concern, and all of their efforts are directed to that end.

Strong-minded people serve as tremendous inspirations for me. When life throws you a curve ball, a U-turn, a disappointment or an unpleasant surprise, the outcome will oftentimes be greatly dependent on the way in which you handle yourself during those times. It takes practically no strength of character to be charming and adorable when everything is going your way. It’s when things get dicey that your true character reveals itself. And that’s when you need a high Pluck Factor. When you need to be courageous, to turn the ordeal into a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. To show your true colors, and your grit and the stuff of which you are made.

Many readers of this Newsletter are going through ordeals at this very moment. I know so because you write and tell me of them, and my heart goes out to each and every one of you. I hope this letter finds you determined to increase the Pluck Factor by just a little bit. To hold your head up high and courageously get through these days as have my dear friends Lorraine and Cam. You will serve as wonderful role models for someone else who, one day, will need to exhibit a high dose of pluck, too.

Carolina Fernandez earned an M.B.A. and worked in investment banking and as a stockbroker before coming home to work as a wife and mother of four. She totally re-invented herself along the way. Strong convictions were born about the role of the arts in child development; ten years of homeschooling and raising four kids provide fertile soil for devising creative parenting strategies. These are played out in ROCKET MOM! 7 Strategies To Blast You Into Brilliance. It is widely available online, in bookstores or through 888-476-2493. She writes extensively for a variety of parenting resources and teaches other moms via seminars, workshops, keynotes and monthly meetings of the ROCKET MOM SOCIETY, a sisterhood group she launched to “encourage, equip and empower moms for excellence.” Please visit rocketmom.com rocketmom.com

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Symptoms of Chronic and Acute Leukemia

December 5th, 2008 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

Discovering while it is still in an early phase is crucial in its treatment because when the disease advances it starts to spread in the whole body and it’s much harder to be treated.

Therefore it’s important to learn the symptoms of so that you can can detect its signs and take the appropriate measures. Symptoms however may vary from one person to another and they also depend on what type of the patient has. Leukemia can be divided into two major types: acute and chronic , each having its specific symptoms.

Leukemia symptoms result from the fact that the blood cells of someone suffering from are diseased and they can’t fulfill their role anymore.

Patients with acute have too little red blood cells in their bodies which leads to a general feeling of weakness and to a pale color.

On the other hand, a person with too many abnormal white blood cells can develop fever, is very easily bruised, will suddenly start bleeding out his/her nose or gums and sometimes they will feel pain in the joints.

Other common symptoms of are pain in the abdomen, swollen lymph nodes, weight loss, sweating, and if the disease spreads to the brain headaches, disorientation, balance problems and confusion appears.

Acute develops much faster that chronic , but it’s easier to be discovered because people come at the doctor because they feel sick. Chronic develops much slower but it’s harder to detect it because very often it shows no specific symptoms and it’s discovered when it has already advanced a lot. Always feeling weakend and getting infections often can be a sign so visit your doctor for an accurate diagnosis.

If someone reports a few of these symptoms to the doctor then some special tests must be performed to determine whether the person has or not and if he/she has it then some other tests need to be done to determine what kind of treatment gives the best results.
The lymph and blood marrow must be examined and blood samples must also be processed in order to establish an accurate diagnosis. Once the diagnose is established usually begins. The survival rate gets higher and higher each year.

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Raising Eyebrows to Cure Leukemia - Six Personal Factors in Determining One’s Outcome

November 29th, 2008 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

Six years ago, my husband Devin was diagnosed with Acute Lymphacytic Leukemia. In the midst of Devin riding the roller coaster of relapse and remission, I began to write. I had no other outlet for what I was feeling at the time, nor did I have the energy to seek one. Three years later, Devin succumbed to the disease though we were the ones who were supposed to “make it.”

To begin with, we had the love and support so often associated with success in cancer diagnoses. When Devin was first diagnosed, we were living in Oregon, 2000 miles away from our home state of Ohio. Devin’s parents had recently retired and lived in Oregon only three hours away. My parents too were retired and spent weeks at a time with us, just to be near. Socially, Devin was well-liked, strong, healthy and generous with his time and energy.

Second, Devin and I had been astute enough, and financially successful enough, to invest our salaries and bonus monies in life insurance policies and other long-term strategies. Eventually, due to his rank within the company and his past earnings, the disability checks we received during Devin’s treatments allowed us to balance our checkbook.

Alongside those first two aspects, we had a reason to get up in the morning and his name was Davis. Despite his premature birth, Davis had turned out healthy and became our inspiration for everyday living.

Next, Devin was being treated under the watchful eye of Dr. Keith Lanier in Portland. Later, after moving back to Cincinnati due to a job consolidation, Devin had been referred to the practice of Dr. Philip Leming. When the insurance company considered dropping this physician’s group from their coverage, Dr. Leming wrote a persuasive note to convince the company otherwise.

In conjunction with the above, Devin had access to stellar insurance coverage. When we did embark on a bone marrow/stem cell transplant, we were presented with the option for Devin to undergo this process in the Pacific Northwest at a “blue chip” facility - Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. As Dr Leming put it at time, “That’s what they do, and they do it well.”

Finally, we had attitude. Devin maintained a positive outlook on life, this disease, and how this could help make him a stronger person – I quote from his diary - “God has a plan for me in all of this – and each day (it’s only been 5!) I learn more about what the plan might entail.”

Outside of the disease itself, the above are crucial factors in the successful treatment of a . But there are instances when insurance, caregivers, money, love, and medical care simply do not matter. Ours was that instance. The only thing that would have mattered at the time was a cure.

It took six years of writing a book, illbeinthecar.com I’ll Be in the Car, to accept the fact that we had all the means for success and in the end, it did not matter. I’ll Be in the Car is the story about Devin and me. But more so, about how our lives were impacted. I wanted others to witness that we fought over money, in-laws, child-rearing and lawn-mowing, in the midst of fighting . I wanted others to know even during Devin’s down days, we held bridal showers, went on vacation, and watched movies and read Tuesdays with Morrie, before the notion of Devin dying had even crossed our minds.

Two weeks after Devin died Davis and I began our journey of fundraising for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by attending our first Light the Night Walk, surrounded by more than fifty family members, friends and neighbors who were still in shock and needing to grieve. Over the years, we continued our participation, walking with friends, sisters and brothers and finally just Davis and me.

Two months ago, I married a wonderful man whose first wife also died of cancer. He brought three motherless daughters into our marriage. The other night as a family, we had been out spooking the neighborhood, leaving tricks and treats and laughing all the way home. Later, while putting my son to bed, I saw that he had been crying. “Davis what’s the matter?” I asked. And he just burst out, “I didn’t get to say goodbye to Dad.”

This is six years later. And that one moment sends me backwards in time, wishing there had been a cure. If we cannot have a cure, if we cannot raise millions of dollars, then we must raise eyebrows while finding other means of comforting those affected. We must tell the story of little boys who still miss their dads, of young women who still grieve for a mom I can never replace. We must talk about mothers and fathers who still yearn to see their son walk through the door at Christmastime. And we must be the voice for friends and lovers, husbands and wives whose light we carry inside.

Annette Januzzi Wick is author of I’ll Be in the Car: One Woman’s Story of Love, Loss and Reclaiming Life, available from ThreeArchPress.com ThreeArchPress.com or nationwide. She speaks passionately about comforting the bereaved and finding a cure through cancer organizations such as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, book clubs, church groups and Women Writing for (a) Change. She lives with her newly blended family in Cincinnati, OH.

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