Found these statistics of CML on the website of the American Cancer Society, thought they were kind of interesting.
The American Cancer Society estimates that 4,830 new cases of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) will be diagnosed in the United States during 2008 (that's 13.2 people per day, or a little more than one person every 2 hours). About 450 people in the United States will die of CML during 2008.
Based on my quick calculation you have an annual chance of 1 in 62,864 to get CML which is about on par with the chances of striking it rich on Antiques road show (1 in 60,000 per http://www.funny2.com/odds.htm). Guess I'd better bring my Jackalope next time they're in town!
CML accounts for about 10% to 15% of all leukemias. The average person's lifetime risk of getting CML is less than 1/5 of 1% (less than 1 in 500). The risk is slightly higher in men than in women.
The average age at the time of diagnosis is around 67 years (Cut that in half for me) . Chronic myeloid leukemias affect mostly adults, and are only rarely seen in children.
Because of dramatic progress in treatment over the past few years, most people with CML are now surviving at least 5 years after diagnosis (That's a comfort........., I Guess.........). But because the highly effective drugs are still fairly new, the average survival of people now being diagnosed with CML is not known. (We'll hope for the best!)
Friday, March 14, 2008
14 - The Bad Week
The day before Valentine’s (Yes, that totally commercialized day in February) my wife and daughter got sideswiped by a driver who must have been blind. Trying to make a left turn across 2 lanes of traffic without seeing my wife in the middle lane and banging right into her!! All seems to be well at this point, though the car was a total loss. Unfortunately Jill had to spend 24 hours in the hospital for observation (well observation of the baby really), she was starting to have small contractions. Ella was given a once over but the headbang against the window did not seem to have fazed her (tough Dutch scull).
The next day Jill came home from the Hospital and I found out from Kaiser that my sister was not a Bone Marrow match to me (but in my heart I already knew that, due to my superior prettiness genes). A bit of a bummer, but I’m glad I found out after my sister’s visit.
Then Friday rolled around and my wife was told they wouldn’t be renewing her shared teaching contract for the upcoming school year. Which means she will either have to teach full-time or if we decide to do so quit all together (not a great option since we have Kaiser’s insurance through her work, and Gleevec costs around $110 per day). The shared contract has really worked out nice for us, since it means that Ella does not have to go to a babysitter too often (no grandparents around to do that dirty work for us). I usually work Tues-Sat and Jill works Mon-Tue/Wed, which makes our weekends together kind of short but it does give us the opportunity to raise our child and only have her go 1-2 days per week to the sitter. I guess we’ll have to come up with some new master plan……
I think that was bad news in triplicate, so I’m assuming we’ll be good for a while.
The next day Jill came home from the Hospital and I found out from Kaiser that my sister was not a Bone Marrow match to me (but in my heart I already knew that, due to my superior prettiness genes). A bit of a bummer, but I’m glad I found out after my sister’s visit.
Then Friday rolled around and my wife was told they wouldn’t be renewing her shared teaching contract for the upcoming school year. Which means she will either have to teach full-time or if we decide to do so quit all together (not a great option since we have Kaiser’s insurance through her work, and Gleevec costs around $110 per day). The shared contract has really worked out nice for us, since it means that Ella does not have to go to a babysitter too often (no grandparents around to do that dirty work for us). I usually work Tues-Sat and Jill works Mon-Tue/Wed, which makes our weekends together kind of short but it does give us the opportunity to raise our child and only have her go 1-2 days per week to the sitter. I guess we’ll have to come up with some new master plan……
I think that was bad news in triplicate, so I’m assuming we’ll be good for a while.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
13 - The Next Visitors
It’s been a bit since the last entry, somehow I never quite got around to sitting down and typing my story over the past month, even though I have quite a few things running through my head. First thing first: my sister’s visit (and my beloved brother-in-law as well of course - this is the one who still hasn't cracked a joke about my c'cision (I'm still amazed))! As expected we had a wonderful time, they arrived Friday and left Monday before heading off to Costa Rica for a week. Must be nice getting all those vacation days in Holland, need to move back soon!!! It was great to see her/them in person for the first time since the whole Leukemia thing broke. It felt good to give her a big hug and sniff and snotter for a few minutes. I think it helped to see that I still looked the same and can still be the same pain in the rear as I always have been. The next couple of days we spent playing golf (where my BinL broke another driver of mine, that’s 2 clubs in the past 2 games), wining, dining, and visiting Knott’s Berry Farm.
We took the Blacksmith Picture at Knott’s, reminded us both of our grandpa who was a blacksmith in Holland. The smell was exactly what his shop used to smell like, funny how the nose triggers memories. Anyway, all in all we couldn’t have had a better visit and were a little sad to see them leave so soon!
Next posting will hopefully be a tad quicker!
Cheers,Rob
Next posting will hopefully be a tad quicker!
Cheers,Rob
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
