Chronic Myeloid LeukemiaDiagnosis

It was in June 2013 when I was just about to graduate and join a job, that I started feeling some issues with my body. I was feeling weak, and initially, everyone thought that it might be because of not eating properly. Initially, there was not much physical activity, and I was able to manage through my weakness, but when I started doing some physical activity, my body collapsed. I had night sweating, fever, loose motion, and my immune system got very weak. My spleen had enlarged and had become hard like a rod.

So I consulted some doctors who thought it might be malaria and gave me medicines for the same. But one of the doctors asked for some particular tests. The test results came positive for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. I had recently completed my graduation and had a software job in hand and had lots of responsibilities like brothers education, my education loan, along with the pressure of my sister's marriage. When I came to know of my diagnosis, I felt my whole life slipping away.

Doctors said that it has good and bad points. Chronic Myeloid Leukemia has three stages; chronic, accelerated and blast crisis. The good thing was that I was diagnosed in the last phase of the chronic stage and thus could recover from it, but the bad news was that it was a slow killing cancer. Chronic Myeloid Leukemia doesn't have symptoms, and just because of weakness, nobody goes for cancer tests. I think it was a good thing that I had some symptoms; otherwise, I would have reached a higher stage of cancer before getting diagnosed.

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Treatment

I was in Banaras, and my brother was with me in the hospital. We decided not to tell anyone about this, but my father was repeatedly calling, and thus we had to tell him that it's a cancer called Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. The doctor said that I could continue my job, and just had to take one tablet a day. After hearing this, I was a little relaxed at the fact that I didn't need to stop working, and could live my normal life by just taking a tablet regularly. I lost my job in the software field but started working as a teacher.

My Mistakes There may be many people out there who make the same mistakes as I did. Someone suggested me to try the ayurvedic treatment, so I took ayurvedic medicines for a year and a half. They said you could continue allopathy medicines and take these medicines with them, but I stopped my allopathic treatment. I thought these would cure me then why should I take both medications. But that was my biggest mistake. After the completion of ayurvedic medicines, I went for some tests and found that the Chronic Myeloid Leukemia was present as it was. I resumed my allopathic treatment again, but I used to be careless with my medicines. When the doctors saw some fluctuations in my blood reports, they wrote in big, bold letters never to skip medications.

Because of the mistake I made, I had to go for a higher drug, which was costly, but that too stopped working in the end. Doctors told me that my body would not accept any medicines now. And as I was young, they asked me to undergo a bone marrow transplant. Medications were not working for me, so I had no other option than going for a transplant. I hadn't told my mother and other family members about it. But when I was advised for a bone marrow transplant, I told them everything and said that it would get better after the transplant.

Positivity works There could have been many complications during my bone marrow transplant, or after it, but my family's prayers were with me, and my positivity also worked well for me. The doctors, nurses and survivors were right when they told me that 50% of the success of transplant depended upon my positivity. The constant support of my well-wishers and bone marrow transplant survivors helped me to maintain positivity and to find a worthwhile cause to live life.

Their support helped me to gain self-belief that I was still useful to society. During my hospital stay, I saw small kids fighting cancer, and it motivated me that if they can do it, then I can too. You can't fight cancer alone, you need support, but along with that, you need to have a positive attitude towards yourself. Family, friends and your positivity creates a good atmosphere for your healing. Along with prayers, my colleagues, students, and parents supported me financially also for my treatment.