The urgency of starting leukemia treatment depends entirely on the type of leukemia.
Acute leukemia is considered a medical emergency and may require immediate, urgent treatment to control the rapidly progressing disease.
Chronic leukemia tends to develop slowly and may allow for a “watch and wait” approach, with careful monitoring until symptoms worsen.
Even with a diagnosis of acute leukemia, if your loved one is stable, doing genetic testing is a critical step to help predict how your loved one’s leukemia will progress and indicate what type of treatment will be the most effective, and possibly help your loved one avoid serious side effects. Studies show that taking time to do testing does not affect a patient’s rates of remission or survival.
Hear from Oscar T., caring for his brother with Leukemia.
No sabía nada sobre la leucemia. Veía a mi hermano perder peso y estar cansado. Puede que tuviera algo de sangrado. Uno de los principales retos que tuve fue pensar que no había actuado lo suficientemente rápido. No sabía qué estaba pasando.