First Post and a Big Hello!

[ravengirl62]

Wow I cant believe I get the first post in this forum! I was told at diagnosis that this type of leukemia is pretty popular... Anyhow, hello to you and welcome to the forum no one wants to be in. I was diagnosed in March of 2007. I was having dizzy spells and went to a clinic to have them diagnosed. I had had a brain tumor (colloid cyst of the 3rd ventricle) removed 8 years before and dizzy spells were normal for me. Just not to this extreme. I could not function and had to hold on to stuff to walk around. Not an easy job when you are trying to get a 7 year old ready for school. Well to make a long story short, I went to the doctor, he did a blood test and then came back to me and asked me if I was feeling sick. I told him no. He said he was concerned as my blood test came back with a 17K white blood cell count and that although that is not outrageously high, (10K is about the norm) he would like me to come back the following day and have it done again. I agreed. I returned the next day, no longer dizzy and feeling fine but he did the cbc anyways. This time it came back 21.5K. I was surprised but told him jokingly that it was probably just a sinus infection starting or something. He was very serious and asked me if I would indulge him once more and return the following day for ONE more cbc. I agreed. I returned the next day and low and behold my wbc was now 30K. He direct admitted me into the hospital where I have worked for the last 6 years. Johns Hopkins Hospital here in Baltimore. It has been a crazy time since that time. A time of fear, a time of sadness, a time of learning and a time of teaching. I have heard several opinions as to why I contracted leukemia. My oncologist is convinced it is caused by over exposure to radiation and one of his first questions to me was whether I had been exposed to a lot of radiation. I told him of the countless ct scans I had had with the brain tumor and he just nodded his head in sadness. He is convinced this is where it came from. I have never had any leukemia in my family before now on either side but my dad died from lung cancer and my mother had ovarian and vaginal cancer that was treated with success several years ago. Today, I take one day at a time. I have come to find out I am unmutated and have trisomy 12 which are both bad markers and will not be one of the "lucky ones" ( I say that with extreme trepidation as I dont feel anyone who is diagnosed with cancer is lucky under ANY circumstance...) who may go 30 years without any symptoms. From the information I have gathered I will be lucky to live 10 years. I have traced it back to having leukemia 4 years before it was diagnosed. That's when my numbers started to rise. I am one of the ones who have lymph node involvement and not a high wbc. My wbc has never gone over 30k and is now hoovering between 15K and 25K ... My lymph nodes in my neck, under my arms and behind my head at the base of my skull have swollen to about 6 cm now. My internal lymphs are about 2-3 cm at my last ct scan a month or so ago. I try to forget I even have it and most of the time it works. I keep busy, I belong to several organizations and also continue to work. I have had to give up my job as a Geriatric nursing assistant and find something with less patient involvement but I look at this as a new door opening and a chance for new lessons learned. If anyone wants to talk, I would be happy to email back and forth, time and energy permitting