Irregular Period Leads to Cancer Diagnosis
- Something no woman wants to experience is a period that lasts for three months. But that was one symptom Bansri Dhokia had that led to her blood cancer diagnosis acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL.
- Leukemia is a cancer of the early blood-forming cells, according to the American Cancer Society. Most of the time, leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells; some leukemias start in other blood cell types.
- Dr. Nina Shah, a hematologist, tells SurvivorNet that blood cancer means your bone marrow isn't functioning correctly. "When your bone marrow doesn't function correctly, it means that you can have something happen to you like anemia. Or you can have low platelets, which makes it possible for you to bleed easily. Or your immune system is not functioning correctly, and you can have infections that most people won't have," she said.
The 30-year-old from Ealing, West London, was experiencing fatigue, breathlessness and a period that lasted for three months when she received her acute lymphoblastic leukemia diagnosis. Her symptoms began in May 2020, but she ultimately chalked what she was experiencing up to her busy job at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. (She worked as a business analyst.)
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The Fifth Blood Test
Her strangest symptom of all was her period that lasted for three months. It was out of character for her body's menstrual cycle, she said, so she made repeated trips to her doctor in order to figure out what was wrong. She said despite her recurring visits, she was met with pushback.
"I just knew something wasn't right and repeatedly asked for blood tests," she said, highlighting the importance of advocating for your own health needs.
Between May and July 2020, Dhokia ended up having four blood tests all of them came back normal. Her symptoms persisted, so she had a fifth blood test on July 21, 2020 and she received shocking news.
Dhokia said she was fed up by the time the fifth blood test appointment rolled around; she was even busy at work that day and almost missed the appointment. However, her husband, Amrit Sagoo, encouraged her to go, and thank goodness he did.
"I went for the blood test in the afternoon and that evening, I was brushing my teeth when I got a call to say the ambulance was coming to collect me. They explained I needed to go to (the) hospital right away. I thought it was just for a night and packed an overnight bag. I didn't know what was wrong and that I would end up staying in (the) hospital for 12 weeks."
Once she arrived at the hospital, her doctors performed a bone marrow biopsy that revealed she had acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Dhokia's doctors also didn't tell her they suspected she had blood cancer until after the procedure.
"I was really scared for my life. I had no idea what the prognosis was," she said. "I just cried and I kept questioning why this was happening to me."
She began chemotherapy right away that put her into remission, but as she had an aggressive type of leukemia, she was advised to have a stem cell transplant to reduce the risk of a relapse. One of her two siblings was a match, and the transplant took place in February. The transplant is working, but she will remain a high-risk patient for two years; regular check-ups are needed.
"My recovery is going well so far but a stem cell transplant comes with many side effects, which are lifelong. I have a long road to go, but I take it day by day," she said. "Each month I get through is a success."
What is a blood cancer? Why is multiple myeloma considered one? What causes a blood cancer? How is it detected? Dr. Nina Shah explains.
Understanding Leukemia
Leukemia is a cancer of the early blood-forming cells, according to the American Cancer Society. Most of the time, leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells; some leukemias start in other blood cell types.
In general, Dr. Nina Shah, a hematologist at the University of California San Francisco, tells SurvivorNet that blood cancer means your bone marrow isn't functioning correctly.
"When your bone marrow doesn't function correctly, it means that you can have something happen to you like anemia. Or you can have low platelets, which makes it possible for you to bleed easily. Or your immune system is not functioning correctly, and you can have infections that most people won't have," she said.
There are several types of leukemias, which are divided based mainly on whether the leukemia is fast growing (acute) or slower growing (chronic), and whether the cancer starts in myeloid cells or lymphoid cells.
With acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or acute lymphocytic leukemia (also called ALL) the type of leukemia Dhokia had "acute" means the leukemia can progress quickly, and if not treated, can be fatal within a few months, according to the society. "Lymphocytic" means the cancer develops from early forms of lymphocytes a type of white blood cell.
Shah says she has a simple way of explaining blood cancer: "One cell got really selfish and decided that it needed to take up all the resources of everybody else, and in doing so, took up space and energy from the rest of the body."
Dr. Olalekan Oluwole, a hematologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center explains ALL, how it affects the body and the type of treatments that work to fight it.
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