Common Leukaemia, how bad is it? My grandad has got it

[jofeb04]

I think it is called common anyway. My grandad has this, just told us on the weekend so it came as a big shock.

Thanks

do you mean Chronic?

Yea, it might be chronic actually!
My grandaad say it was common, but his wife said it was chronic

Is it perhaps chronic as opposed to acute? DH's Grandad had chronic leukaemia and it was managed very well. He was diagnosed at 60 and told that it would not kill him, old age would intervene first. It had its problems and side-effects but he lived with it and it wasn't that which eventually killed him.

Not sure about 'common' leukaemia. Sorry if it isn't chronic leukaemia you are talking about.

Sorry to hear about your grandad being poorly though. A horrible thing to hear.

Chronic tends to be 'better' than accute. there are different sorts though, with different outcomes.

Many of the ones that you get as older people just sort of bump along, and they often die of something else.

Thanks SoH,
It is chronic, my dad just told me! My grandad said it is quite common in old age (he is 86). Is this right?

Thanks for that MB. Feeling a little better about it now

It is most common in men over the age of 65 (about double the amount of men get it compared to women). It means that he has more white blood cells than he should have. If he requires treatment it is usually a chemotherapy in tablet form. The most common problem with chronic leukaemia afaik is the number of infections you can be prone to and an increased chance of developing complications in illness. He will be closely watched though and any infection/bug/illness will be managed along with the illness. There are many treatments for it depending on his particular case but I know several men of a certain age who have lived with it to a ripe old age.

It will be Chronic not Common, there's no common leukaemia. There's more than one type of Chronic leukemia too.

Maybe they should have explained it better or given him something in writing. Could Macmillan advise you better about what it means and what to expect?

macmillan cancer support

Some info here too

Thanks for the info, I'll look at the links later on.

Also been told that there may be clotting problems, is this right?

...and he was also told that they is no need to treat it at present

it might do, later, depending on how fast it progresses. But in reality it isn't likely to present him with too many probelms, given his age. Chronic leukemias tend to be slow to progress.

Thanks MB, feeling a little better now

Chronic in this case meens slow onset, whereas Acute meens fast onset.

Chronic conditions can be things you live with for ages, for example Asthma can be a chronic condition.

people tend to see chronic and think of it as having the same meaning as in everday life. ie bad. It doesn't

Thanks MB, really appreciate it