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Diagnosis
Diagnosing juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) usually involves ruling out other similar diseases such as chronic myelomonocytic leukemia and chronic myeloid leukemia, especially if your child is older than 6 years. Doctors commonly use blood tests and bone marrow tests to diagnose JMML.
The tests used to diagnose JMML include:
Side Effects
Cancer therapy for hairy cell leukemia can sometimes produce side effects. For most patients, treatment side effects are temporary and go away once therapy ends. For other patients, side effects can be more severe, sometimes requiring hospitalization.
Before you undergo treatment, talk with your doctor about potential side effects. Drugs and other therapies can prevent or manage many side effects.
Signs and Symptoms
In the early stages of myeloma, some patients have no signs or symptoms of the disease. It is sometimes detected before symptoms appear, when results of laboratory tests done as part of a routine medical examination show abnormalities in the blood and/or urine. When symptoms are present, the most common ones are bone pain and fatigue.
Signs of MyelomaDoctors sometimes refer to the acronym, CRAB, to describe signs of myeloma. The letters stand for
Legal and Financial
Advance DirectivesAdvance directives are a patient's instructions about future medical care in case he or she can no longer speak for himself or herself. Ideally, an advance directive should be in place before a person becomes ill or before a crisis.
School
This page includes information about:
Treatment
The main treatment for ALL is chemotherapy given in phases. Most treatment regimens take 2 to 3 years to complete.
Not every child with ALL receives the same treatment. Your child’s doctor will tailor your child’s treatment based on the ALL subtype and other factors, such as age, health and how the cancer responds to treatment.
Your child’s treatment may also include:
Side Effects
Most ALL treatment side effects are temporary and subside once the body adjusts to therapy or after the therapy is completed. If side effects become severe, children may need to be hospitalized.
Side effects common to ALL and its treatment include:
Bereavement
Losing a child is possibly the most difficult thing a parent can experience. Grief can affect each person emotionally, physically, cognitively and behaviorally. Many people express grief in an outward way; for example, crying, a lack of energy or trouble sleeping. Others, on the surface, may not seem to be grieving. Instead, these people process grief internally. Their grief may go unrecognized and unacknowledged. Be aware that grief is personal and specific to the person. Try not to make judgments about how you, your co-parent or others process the loss of your child.
Survivorship
Survivorship WorkbookUse this Survivorship Workbook to collect all the important information you need throughout diagnosis, treatment, follow-up care and long-term management of a blood cancer.
Ph-Positive ALL Therapy
About 25 percent of adults with ALL have a subtype called “Ph-positive ALL” (also known as “Ph+ ALL” or “Philadelphia chromosome-positive ALL”). The leukemia cells of these patients have the Philadelphia chromosome, which is formed by a translocation between parts of chromosomes 9 and 22. A piece of chromosome 9 breaks off and attaches to chromosome 22, and a piece of chromosome 22 similarly breaks off and attaches to chromosome 9. The abnormal chromosome 22 is known as the Philadelphia chromosome. This chromosomal alteration creates a fusion gene called BCR-ABL1.
Relapsed and Refractory
Some chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients still have leukemia cells in their bone marrow after initial treatment with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). "Refractory" is the term used to refer to a disease that has not responded to the initial treatment. Relapse is the term used to refer to the return of a disease after a period of improvement.
TKIs used for "initial" or first-line treatment for chronic phase CML include:
Treatment
It's important that your doctor is experienced in treating patients with hairy cell leukemia or works in consultation with a hairy cell leukemia specialist. This type of specialist is usually called a hematologist oncologist.
Types of Hairy Cell Leukemia TreatmentFor many people with hairy cell leukemia, starting treatment helps them focus on moving ahead and looking forward to their disease's remission.
Several types of approaches and treatment are used for adults with hairy cell leukemia, some at different stages:
Treatment
Every patient’s situation should be evaluated individually by a hematologist-oncologist who specializes in treating MDS and who will discuss the disease subtype, prognostic factors and treatment options with the patient. It is also important to seek treatment at a center that has experience in treating MDS.
Types of MDS TreatmentDoctors use several types of approaches and treatment combinations for MDS:
Managing Side Effects
Work closely with your doctor and cancer care team to prepare yourself with information about what to expect and how to cope with side effects. For some patients, side effects may last well after treatment is completed or may be permanent. For most patients, side effects are temporary and go away when the body adjusts to therapy or once treatment ends. On the other hand, some patients suffer symptoms that may require hospitalization until they subside.
Reactions to treatment vary from patient to patient. Reactions also vary depending on:
How to Find a Treatment Center
A number of resources are available to help you find a treatment center. Your primary care doctor may be able to provide a referral or you can use doctor and insurance referral services.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) supports a national network of cancer centers. Each center must meet specific scientific, organizational and administrative criteria. See a list of NCI-approved cancer centers.
The following organizations can also help:
Talking With Members of Your Oncology Team
Ask your oncology team about the fertility effects of your treatment. By having this information before treatment begins, you can consider the options most likely to preserve your fertility. You can also ask for a referral to a fertility specialist to help you understand and explore your options. Fertility specialists include:
Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
PregnancyMost people of childbearing age who have been treated for cancer and are able to conceive can go on to have low-risk pregnancies and healthy babies. Patients should be able to become pregnant if treatment did not affect their ovaries or uterus, and there are no other medical issues that may impact fertility. Before you try to become pregnant, talk with your treatment team about your medical readiness for pregnancy. You may also want to have a fertility assessment by consulting with a doctor called a “reproductive endocrinologist.”
Healthcare for Undocumented Persons
In most states, undocumented immigrants are not eligible to enroll in Medicare, Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or to buy Marketplace health coverage. There may be limited options for coverage for emergency services; however, cancer treatment may not constitute emergency care.
Cindy
Our church choir had put on a big Easter program in 2002, lots of practices and multiple performances. After the fact, several, including me, came down with an upper respiratory infection. All my friends got better, but I didn’t. Then I started having low energy to the point that I couldn’t do my daily workouts. Next came the appearance of big, ugly bruises on my legs. At that point, I thought I was anemic. When I called to get a doctor’s appointment, the only opening was with his nurse practitioner.
Zoie
My mom thought it was the flu, maybe mono. After I spent five days lying in bed, she took me to an Urgent Care Clinic. I knew it was something far more serious after they called an ambulance. My mom wouldn’t believe the Urgent Care doctor when he told her he suspected it was cancer. Unfortunately, he was right. I was 11 when I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Virginia
I have been living with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) since August 6, 1997. The way I see it, I’m alive today because of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). The pill I take each day that keeps my leukemia in remission exists today much because of research grants awarded to Brian Druker, M.D., PhD., of Oregon Health & Science University.
Berenise
On October 22, 2013, as a senior in college, I was spontaneously diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). I was immediately admitted into the hospital and began chemotherapy. The doctors basically said, "good luck”, as I received the routine treatment that has a survival rate of 25%. My life was flipped upside down in a matter of days. I went from planning what I was going to do after college, to deciding if I would want people at my funeral to wear black or be colorful. I didn't know whether to cry, scream, or be angry.
Doug
I have always been a builder. Professionally, I am an architect. You could say that I’ve spent my life building spaces where people could grow. I never imagined, however, that I would someday have to rebuild my own. In February 2015, after experiencing months of excruciating and debilitating back pain that doctors mistakenly attributed to deteriorating lower lumbar discs, I had an MRI that revealed multiple vertebral compressed fractures.