Hi
The Guardian article posted by Sandy (thanks!) led me to an interesting thought.
Doctors deal with so many different illnesses: is there anything that we, as patients, could suggest to them next time we see our GP which might help them to diagnose Leukaemia, or even CML? Many GPs may only only ever see one or two cases of CML in a lifetime.
I presented with a cough and sinus infection which didn't clear with a first dose of antibiotics but was just offered another course of antibiotics. I was never specifically asked about night sweats or persistent cough, and never thought to mention them - I just thought my duvet was too thick! The only reason I was diagnosed was that I also had right side (NOT spleen side!) pain from what turned out to be just a strained muscle, but I was worried it might be a kidney stone (I've had them before) so I pushed that particular matter and got an ultrasound scan. That found the spleen enlarged because he checked both sides, and led to a CML diagnosis. I wasn't even pushing about the repeat infection, it was purely by chance I was diagnosed.
Would it be helpful for us on the support group to put together a one or two sentence pre-prepared tip that each of us gives the GP next time we see them? It would not be hard at the end of any consultation to say something like "Our Leukaemia support group is trying to help GPs increase their chances of spotting Leukaemia/CML, and we are all telling our doctors to consider it when they see [insert tip here]".
Should this be a tip that covers CML, or allows them a wider ability to spot leukaemia?
Rod