9. Why do some people call Leukemia the good cancer?

Well my friends, it has now been a few months since my last chemo treatment.  If you remember, my oncologist told me that tests showed that the last 6 months of chemo (which ended last July 2012) only got about 40% of the disease.  And all those familiar feeling/symptoms are coming back. 

Night Sweats
More fatigue then normal
Pain on my left side from the swollen spleen
Lymph nodes starting to swell and grow and pop out on my neck, jaw and other places on my body
Rashes
Nausea
Intestinal issues
And other assorted aches and pains

So if you ask me this clinical trial cannot start soon enough in my book!

All this and to think that some professional people, doctors included, and others call this the good cancer!  I have had a few medical professionals and people I know tell me this to my face.  “At least its only Leukemia and not some other life threatening disease!”

Please know I don't mean to sound bitter about this.  The rest of this post may sound like I am, but believe me, I am not.  Not anymore anyway!  I have learned how to deal with my cancer, and I have learned to accept what this cancer has and will thrown at me. 

I have borrowed this next part of this post from another site I have read.  I have changed it a little to make it more fit what I went thru in my own experience:

Imagine that you or another family member, or your child is sick. You go to the doctor and he doesn't know what to think, so he runs some blood work. Suddenly, chaos ensues. You and you’re sent directly to the nearest blood specialist where more tests are run. There's a sense of urgency in every one's voice, but when you beg for an explanation you are told to wait for the doctor, wait for the test results, wait, wait, wait.

Finally a doctor comes in, sits down and tells you that its Leukemia and its aggressive.  And we need to start chemotherapy as soon as possible. He walks out the door to make arrangements and there you sit. Shell-shocked.

You go home in a daze!  Thinking what the hell just happened?  After you gather your thoughts for a minute you call your best friend. Your spouse, your children, your parents!  Surely they can make sense of this, surely they can make everything ok. With tears running down your cheeks you fill them in on the last few hours of hell that you have endured and then you pause to give them a chance to fix it, to say something... and they say, "Well, at least it's just Leukemia. That's the good cancer."

The good cancer?!!?? 

The good cancer... the cancer that wreaks havoc on your body and makes you sicker and sicker until someone figures out what is going on... and then you start chemotherapy which might make your hair fall out, makes you throw up, makes you have diarrhea so bad you can barely sit down.  You can barely sleep, you can barely stay awake.  Treatments that can cause long term problems with your bone marrow, your heart, your hearing, your eye sight, your brain, your kidneys, your liver, and several other organs in your body.

The good cancer. Ask a mother or father whose child has Leukemia just how "good" Leukemia is.

The good cancer. Ask a wife or husband whose spouse has Leukemia just how "good" Leukemia is.

The good cancer. Ask a someone whose parent has Leukemia just how "good" Leukemia is.

The good cancer. Ask a someone  whose brother or sister has Leukemia just how "good" Leukemia is.

The good cancer. Ask a leukemia Patient whose friends quit coming around or call you because they don’t want to see you sick or hear about your disease any more just how "good" Leukemia is.

The good cancer.  Ask a Leukemia Patient who has to have constant blood draws and tests done.  Who has to go thru countless CT Scans, CAT Scans, MRI Scans, countless bone marrow biopsy’s done,  just how “good” Leukemia is.

The good cancer.  Ask a Leukemia Patient receiving chemotherapy just how “good” Leukemia is.

The good cancer.  Ask a Leukemia Patient receiving bone marrow or stem cell transplant just how “good” Leukemia is.

The good cancer.  Did you know that having Leukemia robs many patients of their normal life style?  No more jogging, no more bike riding, no more going to the ball game, no more going out to dinner, no more social nights with the friends, no more hiking in the woods, no more fishing, no more hunting, no more doing your regular job anymore.  No more seeing your children or grandchildren because your immune system is shot and you can’t be around little ones  when they have the sniffles!

The good cancer. The cancer that causes you to loose your life savings and wrack up all of your credit cards to pay for your medical bills and medications!

The good cancer.  The cancer that causes many who have Leukemia to go bankrupt because they can no longer afford to pay their bills any longer.

The good cancer.  Did you know that Leukemia is one of the biggest killers of people, usually children, who have cancer?

The good cancer.  Did you know that some people who get Leukemia will not live more than 3 to 5 years once they are diagnosed?

The good cancer indeed! 

Tell me again why do some people call this the good cancer?