Dad newly diagnosed

[Nervy]

My father is in his early 70s. Recently he had a sore throat and went to a doctor, who thought he looked a little pale and ordered some blood tests. Anyway, the blood tests showed his white blood cell levels were over three times higher than normal, and he had moderate anemia. From there they did more blood tests and a bone marrow biopsy.

Today the doctors told us my Dad has some kind of cancer. They still don't know exactly what, as they need to do further tests on the bone marrow sample, but they threw out CMML and MDS as the two possibilities.
I've done enough research to see that these disorders are rare and the outcomes aren't good. I am a wreck. I don't know what to do or what questions I should be asking.

My Dad, again, is in his early 70s, he has diabetes and suffered a heart attack a couple of years ago. At the same time, he is a strong farm boy at heart who people constantly think looks 10-20 years younger than his age. Up until a couple months ago he felt fine (Now he feels tired all the time, which I would guess is the anemia), and in fact tended to a full garden on a daily basis this summer, doing everything himself.

With a lot of these cancer prognosis stats, I'm hoping that they're swung by people in the sample weaker and older than my Dad, but I know I'm probably fooling myself. How much does personal strength have to do with being able to fight this?

[bailie]

Welcome to the forum. I wish your Dad (and you) the very best of results. You will soon learn that it seems everyone has a different experience with these diseases. You are correct that being in good health does make a big difference. It should only take about a week and a half to get definitive results from a BMB (I have had 18 BMBs). The results are very important to keep track. Same with CBCs and CMPs. Get as organized as possible to chart these results so you can evaluate trends. Remember that knowledge about these diseases is your friend. Acting in a timely manner is very important. Ask questions in this forum. There are many who can help. All of us gain from each individual situation even though the experiences are different.

[Nervy]

Thanks. He's getting his spleen/neck scanned tomorrow and we're waiting on some appointments and further tests on the bone marrow.

[Yuk]

Hi Nervy,

How is your dad doing? My dad was also diagnosed with CMML. To be more specific, he is CMML-0 / MD-CMML. He has low platelets. What does your dad have and is he going on any treatments?