When you have been diagnosed with leukemia, you may understandably feel like everything is overwhelming and frightening. However, in order to handle the situation properly, you need to stay on top of things. For example, if you are going to be starting chemotherapy for your leukemia in the near future, there are some steps that you may want to take before you get started in the treatment process. Get to know some of these steps and then, you can make sure that you are doing everything you can for yourself and your well-being.
Talk to Your Doctor About Leukapheresis
If you are going to receive chemotherapy for your leukemia, it will have numerous effects on your body and your blood. While chemotherapy is effective at destroying cancer cells, it can also cause damage to healthy cells. One of the effects that chemotherapy for leukemia can have is the destruction of white blood cells in the body.
The white blood cells are important to the body because they help to fight infections and protect the body from dangerous viruses and bacteria. Without sufficient white blood cell levels, a person is a high risk of developing serious, even life-threatening infections.
One of the things you can do before you start chemotherapy is to go through leukapheresis. This is a procedure in which the different components of the blood are separated. This means that you can have a store of healthy white blood cells on hand to be re-implanted into your body after your rounds of chemotherapy are completed. Such treatments can help to prevent infections and can help you to recover more quickly after chemotherapy is complete.
Consider Whether You Will Want to Have Children in the Future
Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are treatments that can have a major impact on your ability to have children in the future. After you have gone through treatment for leukemia, there is a good chance that you will not be able to naturally conceive children.
If you do want to be a parent one day, you will want to consider having procedures performed to preserve your ability to have children. For men, this means freezing your sperm and for women, this means harvesting and freezing your eggs. Doing so will give you options after you are done with your battle with leukemia when it comes time to consider having children.
Now that you know a few of the steps you may want to take before starting treatments for leukemia, you can be sure that you are doing what is best for yourself and your future. To learn more about treatments and leukopaks, contact a doctor near you.
