Weight reduced dramatically : This was the first symptom. Dad noticed his weight reduced rapidly in couple of months. I don't remember or know of any other issue that he had faced. Probably he went down 5 to 10 kgs in two months.
Dad consulted a local doctor and got primary investigations done. His platelets count had dropped a lot. Doctor was suspicious and asked for further investigations to be carried out. He then came to Bangalore and investigations revealed that the dreaded disease had chosen another victim. He was suffering from blood cancer, medically termed as CML, Chronic myelogenous leukemia.
CML is a cancer of the white blood cells. It is a form of leukemia characterized by the increased and unregulated growth of predominantly myeloid cells in the bone marrow and the accumulation of these cells in the blood. CML is a clonal bone marrow stem cell disorder in which a proliferation of mature granulocytes (neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils) and their precursors is found.
The disease was in its initial stage. Imatinib or Gleevec as termed by Novartis, was the preferred medication. During 2002-03 a month's medicine costed around Rs 10, 000/-
Later, after several years probably in 2008-09 the medicine was being distributed from free, in India. Not sure if its available for free now throughout India.
Dad had to get preliminary investigations done every month. Basically his platelets had to be in control or should not go below 1.2 lac barrier.
That's how it all started.
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