In this page, I share my leukemia treatment timeline, documenting the stages and experiences of my journey through Philadelphia-positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (Ph+ ALL) treatment.
My Leukemia Treatment Timeline: A Personal Journey
I woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat despite the air condition running and had severe chest and back pain. My parents accompanied me to the hospital in the morning. Got checked with ECG, and everything was clear. Told by doctors that it might be GERD and given medicines for 5 days.
I was grateful to the Lord for being able to spend my 29th birthday at home in Legazpi with the whole family during the pandemic. I still felt something was different happening in my body, but was able to still do normal activities, although weak.
Medicines for GERD didn’t help at all. I had severe headaches and fever and also had swollen lymph nodes on the back of my neck. I was sent to the ER at a local hospital in Legazpi City. The ER told us that it was still GERD. My Mom insisted the doctor order blood work, x-rays, and ultrasound tests to be done.
My sister noticed that my skin and eyes were yellow. After getting the test results from yesterday, a family-friend doctor told us to rush me to the hospital and get me admitted. More tests were done and I was given pain medications to help with my severe head and body aches.
What is our hope in life and death?Christ alone, Christ aloneWhat is our only confidence?That our souls to him belongWho holds our days within his hand?What comes, apart from his command?And what will keep us to the end?The love of Christ, in which we stand.
I had to endure a land travel of 12 hrs from Legazpi City to St. Lukes Medical Center Global City. Thank the Lord that He sustained me even though I was already suffering from severe pain, fever, and nosebleeds. The Lord also led us through friends’ recommendations to choose Dr. Francisco Lopez, a hematology-oncology and bone and marrow transplant specialist, as my attending doctor. He and his team were so kind to arrange the transfer and admission smoothly.
Just within 36 hrs at St. Lukes, my doctor, Francisco Lopez, and his team were quick in attending to my needs. He immediately did a Bone Marrow Biopsy and ordered a lot of tests. I was also urgently transfused platelets and red blood cells. Then I was diagnosed with B- Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), and Hemaphagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH).
I was started on idarubicin, dexamethasone, vincristine, and an L-asparaginase regimen along with multiple blood transfusions.
wrote my first blog entry. READ MORE HERE
It’s exactly a month since I felt my first symptoms from my Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and my 21st day at St. Lukes Medical Center Global City. Time surely flies so quickly. I am now in the middle of my first cycle of aggressive chemotherapy. I’ve had 2 doses of Vincristine and Idarubicin for the past two weeks, on L-Asparaginase for 4 days straight out of 12 days, and had my 2nd intrathecal chemotherapy that was injected in between my spine today.
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While I had my last dose of chemo for the first cycle, today is a frightening day again, yet an exciting one. Frightening, because I will have multiple laboratory tests and my attending physician, Dr. Francisco Lopez, and his team will be doing my 2nd bone marrow biopsy to see how much of the leukemia cells have decreased.
READ MORE HERE