Patients with leukemia were not doing so good till some short time ago
when it comes to treatments or medication. With the help of modern
medicine and technology doctors and scientist have just recently come
up with some treatments or ways to fight the symptoms of this terrible
disease. One of them would be chemotherapy; radiation therapy is also
available but probably the best and most logical thing to do would be:
get a bone marrow transplant from a compatible donor in the family or
from any relative.
In the cases of chemo and radiation therapy control of the cells that
are affected has yet to be possible. Because normal cells are also
damaged in the process side effects are also going to appear, varying
in severity from person to person. Another factor that can either good
or bad is the resistance of each individual to the kind of therapy they
are getting. Planning the stages of therapy would be a very wise thing
to if side effects are to be kept at a minimum.
The side effects in chemotherapy vary a lot, depending on the drugs
that the patient is prescribed. Again the person factors comes in to
place to determine the severity of the side effects. This way dividing
cells are more likely to be affected by anticancer drugs. This is
because the cancer cells have a more rapid way of dividing and their
numbers must be kept at bay. Most often cells that have a rapid way of
dividing are the ones that are hit very hard. Because of this the risks
of getting an infection increase dramatically and also the chance is
that the patient may become very weak. There is a god thing about this
though: the patient can recover and does recover in the periods of
between treatments or in the normal recovery periods.
The most common side effect in radiation therapy would be tiredness
that sometimes overcomes the patient. The proper amount of rest is
needed but still one should maintain a healthy active way of life. The
most visible of side effects is the loosing of hair in the head, that
is when the radiation is directed in that direction, and the different
skin problems that ultimately appear. Nausea and vomiting may also
appear with the loss of appetite in some cases. As in the case of chemo
therapy this side effects are also temporary and can be controlled at
some point if medical advices are followed properly. In some rare
occasion more lasting side effects do occur and this is especially in
small an growing children. Because of the doses of radiation given to
them learning and coordination may be affected.
Bone marrow transplant is nor with out its risks also. Infection may
most often appear in patients that also undergo chemo or radiation
therapy. Another very likely problem to appear is the actual fighting
between the cells of the donor and the cells of the host. It can be
mild in action or very severe. It can be quick to appear or as in some
cases it could take some time.