Chemoteraphy question for leukemia?

today i found that my friend had leukemia and that she is in the hospital so yeah im intersted in knowing aboout leukemia. is it true that they have to like burn the cells or something inside of the body and that the people with leukemia can feel it and that it is painful? my friend is 15, do you think she'll survive? im not sure what kind of leukemia she has but is leukemia curable?

sorry i made a mistake i just found out today that she has it

Some forms of Leukemia are more aggressive than others. My son has chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and he is currently on a chemo drug called Gleevec. It has only been around a few years but it has had a very positive outcome in the patients that are using it and most go into full remission without needing anything further. I don't know if you are ever completely cured but you can be in full remission and be symptom free.

If your friend has the aggressive kind of leukemia-Acute Myelogenous Leukemia--then more radical treatment is needed right away and they may even need a bone marrow transplant in order to help their chances in surviving. My son's friend has AML and she is battling for her life right now even after having a bone marrow transplant. She is a young mom with a baby and it is really so sad to see, but everyone is hoping for a positive outcome.

Gleevec, the chemo drug my son is on, is a new cancer drug that disables an abnormal enzyme in the cancerous cell, kills it, but leaves healthy cells untouched. Other cancer therapies, such as chemotherapy, attack healthy cells as well as cancer cells, leaving patients with some really bad side effects.

Hopefully your friend will have a positive outcome. It's so sad that she is so young and having to battle a disease like this. She is so lucky to have such a good friend as you.

In a nutshell it's usually curable 95% of the time if the cancer is caught in time.

The chemotherapy (pills) are the most painful part; their side effects are horrid.

The radiation also has some negative effects; like hair falling out.

check it out on web m.d. or do a search for leukemia online; you'll find a lot of helpful sites

In general, there are five major approaches to the treatment of leukemia:

chemotherapy to kill leukemia cells using strong anti-cancer drugs;
interferon therapy to slow the reproduction of leukemia cells and promote the immune system's anti-leukemia activity;
radiation therapy to kill cancer cells by exposure to high-energy radiation;
stem cell transplantation (SCT) to enable treatment with high doses of chemotherapy and radiation therapy; and
surgery to remove an enlarged spleen or to install a venous access device (large plastic tube) to give medications and withdraw blood samples.

If caught in the early stages most people can recover from leukemia . The treatments are not pleasant but necessary to kill the cancer. I have seen many people survive leukemia and live for long periods of time.

I've enclosed a web site where you can read more about this condition.

Best wishes for your friend.

Hi. I am sorry about your friend, but chemotherapy is not as bad as you may think it is. Yes, it is not great to go through: you lose all of your hair, and sometimes you have side effects (like feeling nausea, vomitting, being tired, having low red and white blood cell count, low blood iron), but these things usualy happen only in the week or so after each round of treatments. For example, if you have 4 rounds, with a few weeks in-between, you are usualy only feeling very bad after the treatment. The first or second treatments have the highest risk of compications, because your body is not used to all those chemicals. But most people make it through their first round OK. Also, you will not always feel really bad right away. The side-effects somewhat subside by the next treatment.

Every person reacts differently to chemo, and there are some good days, and some bad ones. But all in all, chemo isn't the most horrible thing in the world. It just sometimes feels that way.

Your friend will survive, I am sure. Leukemias and lymphomas are highly curable today, especially when the doctors give a powerful cocktail of chemo (and sometimes radiation). Your friend will make it!

The only thing I'd really worry about is getting her a nice hat, since she will lose her hair. But lots of people are proud to go bald, it's a sign of their strength!

Check this site for the best info:
http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/hm_lls
Best wishes to you and your friend.