About Me

I was diagnosed with Acute Mylogenous Leukemia (AML) on January 28th, 2008. I started chemotherapy on Feb 1st (induction round), and finished four consolidation rounds on Aug. 9th. I did not have a bone marrow transplant because the cytogentic abnormality that caused my leukemia was an inverted chromosome 16, which is often treatable with chemotherapy alone.

After a year and eight months in remission, my leukemia relapsed on October 28th, 2009–Four days before I was to take my trip to Hawaii (a trip that I viewed as my reward for beating cancer). I was admitted to the hospital on October 29th for my second induction treatment. There were several complications during my second induction–most notably, the chemo caused me to bleeding in my lungs. I was admitted and treated in the ICU for four
days.

A biopsy on November 20th showed that the chemo worked. I am now awaiting another bone marrow biopsy to confirm that I am in remission. The next step in my treatment is a bone marrow transplant.

the beginning– a history of my first few months with AML

simple and sincere– a bit of who i was before cancer

the depths– some entries on facing death