Introduction

So, I was diagnosed with APL. A type of Leukemia (cancer of the blood)  that is a sub-type of AML.

As my Dr.'s have said. "If you have to have Leukemia, you picked the best kind to have." Apparently, compared to others, it is one of the easiest to treat with a great chance complete remission.

The news was surprising, and hard to take--and I was sort of in denial for a bit, but there is not a long to be in denial, when you have to go to the hospital a day and a half after diagnosis.

Here is how I told some work friends. 

All,

I got some bad news today and thought you all would like to hear it from the horse’s mouth—so to speak.

I probably told you that I have gallstones. Well I had surgery all scheduled and during my pre-op tests they discovered I had “critically low” white and red platelets—too low to operate.

Surgery was cancelled and off I went to a hematologist/oncologist to figure out why.

I got my diagnosis today, and discovered that I have what is the perhaps the mildest form of Leukemia. The good thing is they caught it weirdly early—before I even showed any obvious symptoms. However, it’s a serious thing, and needs to be treated immediately.

On Friday I will be going into the hospital to start treatments. Treatments consist of medicine and chemotherapy. I will be in Florida Hospital for 21-28 days, go home for a week, then back in to Florida Hospital for the 21-28 day medicine/chemo thing -- two more times.

The treatments have a high success rate of 75% complete remission.

So there it is.

No need to spread it far and wide, it will all come out over time to people who are interested and I don’t want to make a huge deal out of it. I just thought you’d all appreciate hearing it from me.

All of you will just have to survive without me for a bit—but not to worry, I’ll be back in a few months.

All the best,

Adrian

And so the blog begins. I started this blog to keep track of my journey--the highs and the lows--and to reach out to my friends and family, and maybe give someone else going through the same thing an idea of waht to expect.

Enjoy.