Understanding Leukemia
- A 30-year-old woman, from Scotland, was shocked to learn that her heavy period wasn’t a side effect of the Covid-19 booster shot. Days after receiving the vaccine, Victoria Lang went to the doctor and was diagnosed with leukemia.
- Leukemia is a blood cancer that develops when the body produces large quantities of abnormal white blood cells. These cells prevent the bone marrow from producing any other type of cell.
- In a more general sense, blood cancer means that your bone marrow isn't functioning properly.
Following her diagnosis, the 30-year-old pharmacist, of North Lanarkshire, Scotland, spent 42 days in the hospital receiving treatment for the rare type of blood cancer. Now she’s in remission and sharing her story to encourage others to get checked, and hopefully catch their cancer early on.
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Lang, who described her period as “an insane amount of blood,” also noticed how several bruises she had on her knee and shoulder took a while to heal. However, the bruises didn’t worry her because she could explain how they appeared.
When she visited her general practitioner, the doctor did some blood tests, suspected she had leukemia and sent Lang to a hospital in Glasgow. It wasn’t until she was transferred to a cancer center that a bone marrow sample confirmed her diagnosis, which came as a shock because Lang didn’t recall feeling sick or having other symptoms.
“I was transferred to the Beatson Cancer Centre and spent 42 days there,” Lang, who claims to have gained about 14 pounds in fluid weight amid treatment, told SWNS.
Now that she’s in remission and her periods have returned to normal, Lang is urging others to “trust your instincts.” “I knew my period wasn’t right and if I hadn’t called the doctors to discuss it then I might not have been diagnosed as quickly,” she concluded.
Understanding Leukemia
Leukemia is a blood cancer that develops when the body produces large quantities of abnormal white blood cells. These cells prevent the bone marrow from producing any other type of cell, including red blood cells and platelets.
"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. Nina Shah, a hematologist at the University of California San Francisco, previously told SurvivorNet.
What is a Blood Cancer? How is it Different?
In a more general sense, blood cancer means that your bone marrow isn't functioning properly.
"And when your bone marrow doesn't function correctly, it means that you can have something happen to you like anemia," Dr. Shah said. "Or you can have low platelets, which makes it possible for you to bleed easily. Or your immune system is not functioning correctly."
Symptoms of leukemia can vary depending on the type of leukemia. Common signs and symptoms of the disease include:
- Fever or chills
- Persistent fatigue, weakness
- Frequent or severe infections
- Losing weight without trying
- Swollen lymph nodes, enlarged liver or spleen
- Easy bleeding or bruising
- Recurrent nosebleeds
- Tiny red spots in your skin (petechiae)
- Excessive sweating, especially at night
- Bone pain or tenderness
These signs and symptoms aren't exclusive to leukemia, but if you notice them or any other changes to your health, you should see your doctor as soon as possible.
Understanding The Different Types of Leukemia
Leukemia is different from other types of cancer because it is not just broken down into stages of severity, but into different categories based on the cells that grow into cancer cells and how quickly those cells grew. In this blood cancer, one type of white blood cells is growing out of proportion to the others, and taking up the body's resources. A patient's bone marrow will become filled with these blood cancer cells, and that could result in anemia, abnormally low levels of platelets and white blood cells failing to fight off infections.
There are four basic categories doctors use to identify the different types of this blood cancer:
- Acute leukemia grows very quickly.
- Chronic leukemia grows more slowly, over several years.
- Lymphoid leukemia grows from lymphoid cells, which produce antibodies and protect against viruses.
- Myeloid leukemia grows from myeloid cells, which is the body's first defense for bacteria.
What Are The Different Types of Leukemia
Contributing: Abigail Seaberg
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