My Oncologists did not talk about prognosis until after treatment, even then they kinda talked around it rather than giving straight answers. They said that "statistics show" that the average life span after treatment is five years, for me that five year mark passed 17 years ago. So there is no hard and fast rule. One of the Doctors gave me what I consider to be the most honest answer. He said, "You will know that you are totally clear of cancer, when you die from something else."

I was told before starting induction that I have a good prognosis since my FLT3 test came back normal.

My doctors were vague about a prognosis until I finished the chemo.

Hi Jon,
I am far from a bible pounding religious fanatic, but I believe I have a faith that runs pretty deep. I like your story. No one knows why this crazy illness attacks them or why it singles out a certain person to really go at them. When I was diagnosed I was a very sick person, I had no idea I was fighting a cancer. My docs talk in statistics too. That's all the tangibles they have. I was lucky as my body chose to fight like crazy and I bounced back well. A few months ago they took me off treatment which petrified me, I was so scared. They could only tell me the statistics of such a move--with the knowledge my body is able to fight. So far, so good. I had a very good friend who contracted the same Leukemia I am fighting-- who died from it. She was 48 when she was diagnosed in 1995. She fought a courageous battle, had a BMT and died of Graft vs Host in 2003. She did not have the arsenal of meds that exist today. What they learned from her helps me today. Our docs don't have crystal balls. What I am certain of is: Live each day, Just keep going, Make your time matter, Have Gratitude for what is. The end will come as it should. Love, jmb

Linda, I'm sorry to hear you have relapsed. I pray for your full recovery and return to remission. I thank God that my AML is still in remission, my main reason for being thankful is that I have been in remission long enough to meet my grandson, who turns 9 this year.

For the past 21 years I have lived with the thought of what my oncologist said, that Leukemia never really goes away, it only goes into remission, as he put it, "You know you're cured when you die of something else."

The closer I get to the end of life, the more I am drawn to look at others I have known with leukemia, those living with it and those who have passed on, and I wonder, which of us were more fortunate? Not to say that I am considering any rash action, but just possibilities to consider when they come.

I'm the first, and I hope the last, in my family to have leukemia, but other cancers have taken relatives. So, I often wonder, who was better off? My Mother who passed away from Lung Cancer, at the age of 50, after years as a heavy smoker, or my Uncle (her brother) who passed away from colon cancer at the age of 66, or my fathers brother, who worked hard to live a super healthy life, and passed away from Pancreatic Cancer at the age of 83.

All in all, live goes on, and we do the best we can,

God handles the details.