Leukemia Diagnosis?

My mom had breastcancer in Sept. '04 and was treated and came through it just fine. In June of this year '07 she went to a hospital for some pains she was having. Actually, she went to two doctors and two hospitals before finally going to a great hospital where they found her Leukemia. They said she probably had it for about three years. My question is..shouldn't one of the drs. or hospitals caught it. Is it a special blood test that would have had to be ordered or a run of the mill test that would have been done in the course of a regular check up that would have shown the cancer?

Thanks Aloha, but she has already passed. It was acute, not chronic. She was strong and the drs. were even amazed that she was still alive.

My daughter had an acute leukaemia, she would nt have had it more then 2 months before being diagnosed. She had a simple full blood exam, which showed signs there was something wrong with her blood that led the doctors to more tests and a diagnosis. (based on just the blood test the oncologist where 99% sure she had leukaemia) I cant imagine your mum had an acute leukaemia for 3 years it is very very quick and without treatment a person would only live a few months. Sorry they didnt find it earlier for her, may have been the difference.

I send positive thoughts to your Mom and keep the faith. Your beat it once, you can beat it again. She must have a chronic form of leukemia to have had it that long. There are many different forms of leukemia and her treatment for Breast Cancer may have masked the blood test. Good luck!

one of the common diagnostic exams for leukemia is the CBC (complete blood count) where the WBC is usually high and the other blood cells are low. leukemia has many types. which specific type does your mom have? i would say it's the chronic one... but actually her leukemia could be an effect of her previous cancer because one of the risk factors/causes of leukemia is the treatment (e.g. medications) used to treat cancer. i hope everythings goes well with your mom. keep the faith!...

My heart goes out to you and your family. Both my husband and I have had cancer and beaten it. But it's a rough diagnosis, I know, especially after the breast cancer.

Many people experience disappointment with the medical community for what appears to be ineffective diagnosis and treatment. Even the after treatment attitude of "so now you've been treated, take your prescriptions and go home" feels like a slap in the face. What do I do now? That question usually isn't addressed at all.

Based on our experience and others we know, the most productive thing now is to take charge of where you go from here. It's her health and it's more important to her and her family (you and whoever else is within that group of family and maybe close friends) than to anyone else. You and she have a very vested interest, obviously. Be involved. Ask Questions! You're in charge.

There are a lot of alternative things that she can do to improve how she gets through treatment and that will effect her ultimate outcome. They work very well. If you want to contact me I'll be happy to share with you how you can get started in that direction. I took advantage of a couple of natural alternatives with great success prior to surgery. My doctor wanted all the information afterward because he said it saved my life. He said they can only cut away the diseased parts but having the body heal itself is the very best treatment.

Move forward toward your goals and don't waste energy on what happened or didn't happen in the past, because you can't change it anyway. You CAN design the future!

And let me know how I can help you get started with that design. If you're interested to know about what worked for me and others I know, I urge you to begin checking it all out.
You can email me at monajones@sc.rr.com