Hi everyone,
My reason for being on this discussion board was to get some support for my mum who has been diagnosed withstage 2b cervical cancer. She is 81 and is not strong enough to take on the 3 different types of treatment they are asking her to do.
She has been asked to do external radiotherapy, chemo & internal radiotherapy for which she needs to be put under general anaesthetic. We have decided that she will only do the external radiotherapy to slow this cancer down.
But while I was going through this message board I found a few other people who have the blood malignancy that I have. They are messages that are quite old and I am desperately looking for support with this rare disorder/cancer.
I have Essential Thrombocythemia and have had it for 15 years. I am now 49 and was diagnosed after I had my 2 children.
I was on Hydrea at the beginning and because of the risk of developing Leukemia my doctor took me off it. I was then on Asprin for about 6 years but have stopped that too.
My count is now at 710 and goes up and down. I also have an enlarged spleen and have had the JAK2 mutation blood test and I am negative.
I don't totally understand what that means but my doctor said that I am lucky that it is negative. He also says that its not if I get worse its just a case of when. He says that this condition usually goes for about 10-15 years before things start to go wrong. Well I've reached 15 years and I'm starting to get nervous.
My doctor insists that I have a well balanced diet and a no stress life.
Yeah right..........thats going to happen....no stress.....
But he insists that stress makes this condition worse.
With the diet I personally don't think it changes ET at all but it does ensure our immune system is in top order and able to fight off whatever is thrown at us.
I lost my father 8 years ago to lung cancer and now I am caring for my mum. I just hope that my time isn't coming up soon as I really want to be aroung for my daughter's weddings.
I want to more about this condition so if anyone has anything that they feel can help please let me know.
Good luck to you all and strength to all of us.