Bone Marrow Cancer Symptoms
Bone marrow cancer usually occurs in the larger bone cavities of our body, which are filled with soft tissues. The stem cells present in the marrow that develop into different kinds of cells, such as red blood cells and white blood cells, might turn malignant, and there are many early symptoms to detect this affliction.
This is one of the rarest kinds of Cancer and affects a small percentage of cancer patients.
Symptoms
The initial signs of bone marrow cancer may differ from person to person, but some of the common symptoms of the condition are fever, loss of weight, loss of appetite, and fatigue. The initial signs of bone marrow cancer can be so subtle and erratic – this causes the patient to take the symptoms casually and delay their visit to the doctor. One of the most common symptoms of bone cancer is unbearable pain in one or more bones. This pain sometimes occurs in repeated waves and often intensifies.
Some of the other Bone Marrow Cancer Symptoms are:
- Loss of appetite for an extended period
- Sudden weight loss
- Hard lumps on the skin
- Swellings
- Stiff joints
- Anaemia
- Multiple Myeloma or malignant growth of plasma cells
- Leukaemia
These symptoms, as we can see, may seem unproblematic towards the beginning, but the longer we keep this unchecked, the more difficult it gets for the patient to recover in the future, as the cancer cells would have spread rapidly. Therefore, symptoms like hard lumps on the skin or unusual bone or skin growth must be checked immediately to rule out the possibility of bone marrow cancer.
Bone marrow cancer patients may be lower in number, but their mortality rate is also that low. It is almost untraceable if caught in the last stage. Thus, one must be wary of these symptoms.
Bone marrow cancer includes a set of Cancer (s) that also occur due to the imbalance of cell generation – as seen in the bone marrow of our bodies. These arise from plasma cells or their imbalance in one’s system and from white blood cells, which lead to further complications, as seen in the case of leukemia. Other than this, tumor lymph nodes may form according to abnormal lymphocytes – this type of Cancer, which is also often grouped under bone marrow cancer, is termed “lymphoma.”
Therefore, one can broadly classify the types of cancers grouped under bone marrow cancer.
Types of Bone Marrow Cancer
Table of Contents
- Leukaemia (which includes chronic leukemia and acute leukemia)
- Lymphoma (further divided into Hodgkin’s lymphoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma)
- Multiple Myeloma
It is advisable to visit a doctor as soon as possible after you see any of these symptoms so that the cancer cells do not have time to spread and become malignant. In a benign state, bone marrow cancer, like other forms of Cancer, is treatable through radiation, medication, and surgery.
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Thus, it is advised to follow up on a complete body checkup, including a biopsy, in case of any symptomatic sightings.
Around Thanksgiving of 2008, I found a small, hard lump above my left breast (I had just fnisihed reading the book Life Wish by Jill Ireland who died from breast cancer so decided to do a self exam, just in case ) and after much testing and sending my biopsy all over the place, I finally got diagnosed with Non-Hodkins anaplastic large-cell lymphoma. What a mouthful! I was scared out of my mind. I was newly divorced with a teenage daughter and facing 6 months of chemo, alone. But I really wasn’t alone, thanks to facebook and myspace and all the wonderful people who stepped forward to help keep my spirits up. Your Angel was one of them I lost my hair after the first treatment, but thanks to a good diet and LOTS of immunity boosting suppliments, I really didn’t feel all that bad. I would have a few oogy days after the chemo, but I never did get violently ill like some people do. Actually, I felt quite normal most of the time The brain gets a bit mushy after a few treatments. Makes it hard to think sometimes, and I lost my sense of taste and smell which are finally returning 2 years later but all in all, it was just a bump in the road of life. I really ended up learning a lot about myself and what’s truly important, and like you said, I found out that I’m much stronger than I ever thought I was! You will find your inner strength too, Rose! Never doubt it!!! xo