Symptoms And Treatment Of Myelodysplastic Syndrome Essay

Leukemia is “a malignant progressive disease in which the bone marrow and other blood-forming organs produce increased numbers of immature or abnormal leukocytes. These suppress the production of normal blood cells, leading to anemia and other symptoms.”An estimated combined total of 162,020 people in the U.S. are expected to be diagnosed with leukemia, 60,192 people die, 14% live in remission and my father is just another statistic. When I was nine years old, my father was diagnosed with Leukemia, an illness that at the time I did not understand. This left my mother raising two kids and working two jobs to make ends meet. Throughout this time of never ending hospital visits, I experienced the kindness and care provided to us by my father’s doctors - something that until this day I will never forget.

Makayla Sault, a now 11-year old Ontario First Nation girl, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia last March. She then began chemotherapy treatment and was given a 75 percent chance of survival with the treatment. She underwent 12 weeks of chemotherapy. During this time, she experienced severe side effects and at one point ended up in intensive care. At this time, Makayla said she had a vision of Jesus, and then wrote a letter to her doctors asking to stop her treatment. With the support of her family and the resistance of the doctors, the children’s aid society that handled the case ultimately granted Makayla’s wish. She then pursued traditional indigenous medicine and other alternative treatments. She died last month after suffering a stroke.

In the year of 1989, an infant named Eric was born. However, he wasn’t your mediocre child that everyone hopes for. He was fairly sick, which was because doctors and hematologists found out he had anemia. He was suffering shortness of breath and fatigue, due to him not having enough red blood cells being produced in order for him to survive. It was because he has a very rare case of anemia called Diamond Blackfan anemia. This is where the bone marrow fails to function. He was expected to only live for 6 years.

In September 2015, Mr. C was re-diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which had been in remission for 4 years, and he is currently receiving cancer chemotherapy. Mr. C reported that the cancer is more debilitating this time around as he is experiencing more pain, only sleeps three to four hours a night, and has noticed a dramatic decrease in energy over the last month. This decrease in energy particularly upsets him because he reports not having the energy to spend time with his girlfriend and her son.

People who have Myelodysplastic Syndrome may not experience symptoms at the beginning of the disease. However, there are three main signs that can develop and alert healthcare providers that something is wrong. One of these is a low red blood cell count, or Anemia. Most patients that have myelodysplastic syndromes exhibit this indicator when first diagnosed. A normal red blood count can vary between 4.0 and 6.1 million red blood cells per microliter of blood in the body, depending on the age and sex of the patient. A red blood cell count lower than normal is characteristic of Anemia (Cafasso, Jacquelyn, and Gotter). Not only is Anemia shown by constantly low hematocrit, but it can also be characterized by constantly low hemoglobin. A normal hemoglobin count is between 12.0 and 15.5 grams per deciliter of blood for females, and 13.5 to 17.5 grams per deciliter of blood for males. Levels lower than these show a low hemoglobin level (Mayo Clinic, Hemoglobin Test). Hemoglobin is the protein in blood that carries oxygen to the different tissues in the body.

Mr. Jacobs is a very pleasant, 69-year-old gentleman who presents to the oncology clinic for evaluation and treatment of a myelodysplastic syndrome with excess blasts in transformation RAEB-2. Patient states he was in a normal state of health until 01/2017 when he was evaluated to have anemia and leukopenia. He was referred to a hematologist/oncologist and underwent a bone marrow biopsy. The results revealed a mild dysplastic syndrome with excess blasts in transformation RAEB-2. Flow cytometry showed 11% myeloblasts. He was subsequently given one unit of packed red blood cells and started on erythropoietin every three weeks

There are 13,000 people diagnosed each year with Myelodysplastic syndrome in America. Robin Roberts is just one of those many people (American Cancer Society).

“’So what’s your story?’” she then then replies “’I already told you my story. I was diagnosed when-‘” He interrupts and says “’No, not your cancer story. Your story. Interests, hobbies, passions, etcetera… Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who becomes their disease. I know so many people like that. It’s disheartening. Like cancer is in the growth business, right? The taking-people-over business. But surely you haven’t let it succeed prematurely’” (Green, 32).

During her career as a pediatric nurse, she became very connected with a patient who happened to be her first death encounter. At the time, the patient was a six-year-old boy who was diagnosed with leukemia. ML said: "When I was caring for this patient, I was a mother myself. Seeing that boy and his family suffer gave me so much heartache… it was hard not to make it personal." The more she worked with this child, she observed the pain and suffering him and his family had to go through. She also learned about him and the family dynamics which enabled ML to help the patient and the family become well involved in understanding one another and guide care towards an agreement that everyone was satisfied with. As I reached for the tissue box to hand it to her, I rephrased the story to confirm the understanding of the story. She nodded and continued on talking about things she has done for the patient. Being a mother and a nurse, she believed in providing this child with what a healthy boy would be doing at his age. ML's strategies involved promoting short physical activities, playing games, and encouraging the parents to participate in such activities if possible; ML wanted to provide a lighter atmosphere around the unit and help the patient disregard the diagnosis even if it was just for a little while. Over the past few months, she continued to assist this patient as his

As an aspiring UT student striving to eventually travel the world to aid underdeveloped countries in public health, I believe that this GMT trip will provide me with an impeccable environment that will allow me to directly experience healthcare, all the while making life long friends in the longhorn community. Being a part of GMT has been a wonderful experience and has allowed me to explore many unique opportunities pertaining to the medical field. From personal experience, I can relate to the relief and gratitude felt when patients are treated with care and hospitality. My brother was diagnosed with Thalassemia Major, a type of blood cancer that in which children experience severe anemia. Thanks to the help of the medical staff, my brother

For this week’s disease diary I wanted to pick my three diseases from the lesson which was skeletal system. My first disease is Leukemia aka Blood cancer, it is one of the most popular cancers found in America today. The signs and symptoms are when the patient has a high fever, loss of appetite, abdominal pain. Doctors have not found a real understanding for the rigorous cause but they do believe it has something to do with genetic mutation in the patient’s DNA and other environmental factors. Scientists and doctors both found that there are different types of Leukemia which are Acute, Chronic, Lymphocytic, and Myelogenous. According to Mayo Clinic. Org “Acute is the abnormal blood cells and immature blood blasts. Chronic is when the blood cells are more slower and takes longer to replicate, Lymphocytic is when the blood cancer starts affecting the lymphatic tissue, and last but not least Myelogenous which is when the disease starts affecting the Myeloid cells.” Doctors will furthermore test to see if the patient have the disease by giving the patient blood tests, Bone marrow tests, physical examination. The different types of treatment does not mean the patient will fully be strong again or survive. Some of the most common treatments to contest against Blood cancer is: Chemo therapy, Biological therapy (treatments that help your immune system fight off the infection), Radiation therapy, and Stem Cell transplant (replaces your infected marrow with a new good physical shape

Bone marrow aspiration and trephine procedures are performed to confirm diagnosis of a particular haematological disorder and have been an important procedure since the late 1920’s (Bain, Clarke & Wilkins, 2010). The scenario witnessed by the writer while on placement in a hospital setting was a bone marrow aspiration. Permission was sought from the patient having the procedure to discuss her in this essay. A pseudonym will be used and the patients name will be replaced with Margaret. Margaret was a 60 year old woman who had Myelodysplastic syndrome which resulted in a low platelet count (National Cancer Institute, 2014). Margaret had been admitted to the ward post a fall, she presented with excessive bruising on her left side and lower extremities. A decision was made by the multidisciplinary team for Margaret to undergo a bone marrow aspiration, providing information on the health of the bone marrow and the capability of blood cell production (Medline Plus, 2014). This procedure involves a needle been inserted into the bone and a biopsy of the bone marrow is taken (National Cancer Institute, 2014). The CNS played a number of roles through-out this procedure. Not only did she assist the doctor with the procedure she supported Margaret and used physical and emotional support to comfort her. The CNS worked in a professional manner and had her patient’s best interests at heart at all times. Margaret found this procedure very daunting and the CNS was able to incorporate her

Stephen P. Hunger and Charles G. Mullighan’s peer reviewed journal discusses acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children and teenagers. The journal mentions that children have a higher rate of survival than teenagers. This is due to the treatment they go through. As humans get older their body becomes less resilient. It is difficult for some understand how a 16 year old could die from ALL, but not a six year old. Doctors are still trying to figure this out themselves. These two authors also talk about focusing on treating people with safer medicines, identifying those who don’t need intense therapy, and work on creating a higher quality of life for patients. This is the ultimate goal in this journal. The argument of this journal is to create

The clinicians should be aware of this problems and how to deal with them. Elizabeth is not different from such patients. She is also dealing with ethical dilemma due to leukemia. Elizabeth and her family are in an ethical dilemma since they have to choose between religion and blood transfusion. Religion at times contradicts when

Jack woke up one morning not feeling well. He felt very weak and could not get out of bed. His mother decided to take him to the doctors. The doctors took many tests to figure out what was making him feel that way. After about an hour or two the doctors got the results back from a blood test. Results that would change Jack’s childhood for the worse. Jack has been diagnosed with Leukemia, a blood cancer. Of course, Jack was not sure what that meant but, his parents became worried beyond belief with the long road ahead of them. Scientists and researchers were all involved in the discovery of Leukemia cancer, which increased knowledge of this cancer, decreased deaths and discovered treatments, and started charity groups to fund research.