--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "knottsm156" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Mark: > > For me CML is the second kind of cancer I have had to deal with. I > had a spinal cord tumor removed 18 years ago. Fortunately it has not > recurred but I believe that the radiation therapy that I had is what > caused my CML. So I have had 2 totally unrelated cancers. > > My neurologist told me that at St. Judes Children's Hospital they are > seeing secondary cancers in children already treated. > > I have always been diligent about getting a mammogram and annual > physical because my grandmother died from breast cancer. > > Mary K >
Thanks Mary (and everyone else who responded) for sharing your history with recurring cancers. Your post brings up an interesting point in this discussion which is that cancer treatment alone can raise the risk of recurring cancers. In addition to radiation, most chemotherapy treatments are known to be carcinogens. When I was dx'd in April with a 332,000 WBC my doctor ramped up doses of hydrea to a whopping 10 pills a day (5g) to lower my WBC before starting Gleevec (to lower the risk of tumor lysis). At any rate, I was amazed and somewhat amused to find out that even a relatively mild drug like Hydrea raises the risk of cancer because it deprives the body of adenine nucleotides. At first it struck me as somewhat funny when I thought to myself, "okay if I don't die from cancer now this medication is bound to make it so". Later when I read more about the way hydrea works and I had mental images of all these chromosomes getting mangled during mitosis because of a lack of adenine, I didn't think it was quite as amusing.. My guess is that radiation and chemo drugs are an additional factor in our increased risk of getting other cancers. It could be that this factor alone accounts for the seemingly high level of recurring cancers amongst cancer survivors. But my guess (and again this is only a guess) is that there is more to it than the effects of treatment (radiation and chemo). If anyone has seen any statistical studies on this please forward it to me. Thanks, Mark Petersen San Diego, CA dx'd 4/27/04 w/ 20/20 (100% ph+) 400mg Gleevec ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/8zSolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> New! Sign up for local CML support group meetings in your local community at http://cml.meetup.com Apply for Commercial Real Estate loans online and submit your deal to dozens of hungry lenders in just minutes. Loan programs for all types of business and commercial real estate. Apply anytime at http://realestatezoo.com CML (Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Support List) --------------------------------- Part Of CMLHope.Com An International Community Of CML Patients For more information: http://cmlhope.com Post Message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To No Mail/Web: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To Digest: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CML Group Web Site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CML Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CML/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
