Deborah’s Story

Site created on December 11, 2018

Welcome to Deborah's CaringBridge website! We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. Deborah's daughter Anna Lee will be managing the site and you'll also see updates from Deborah, Mike, and Andrew. We appreciate your prayers and words of hope and encouragement. 

Deborah was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) last Thursday, December 6, 2018. Doctors discovered the leukemia while she was seeking treatment for an infection in her arm, which she is now recovering from very well. She is currently being treated at the UAB Cancer Center in Birmingham and she began her first round of chemo on December 10.  Her treatment is called 7 + 3 induction chemo, which is 3 single, daily doses of a chemo drug known as "the red devil" which is administered simultaneously with a continuous drip of another chemo drug for 7 days. Leukemia does not have stages, but it does have substypes, which we are waiting to find out. However, the prognosis is pretty good at this point, and doctors are hopeful they will achieve remission with only one round of 7 + 3, which will allow them to move more quickly into the next phases of treatment.

If you want to visit Deborah, please contact Mike directly, as she will have some visitation limits. If you'd like to support them in other ways (cards, etc.), please contact Anna Lee (alford.anna.lee@gmail.com) to coordinate.

We cannot thank you enough for all the support from all over. Mom feels your prayers and we are believing in God for total healing. If you'd like to pray more specifically, here are a few requests:

(1) Remission with the first 7 + 3 round
(2) Minimal side effects (nausea, sores, hair loss)
(3) No transfusions or infections
(4) No need for a transplant

We'll provide more updates soon!

Newest Update

Chemo Day 3 (Done with The Red Devil)

Journal entry by Anna Lee Alford —

I'll post more pictures soon, but mom finished her "3" part of the 7 + 3 chemo treatment today. That means she's done with "the red devil" and will continue to receive just the continuous infusion chemo.

She hasn't needed any blood transfusions yet, which is extremely good news. We are still waiting on information about the subtype and genetic markers for her specific case, but we'll update you when we have it. Right now, they're saying she may not need a transplant if induction chemo puts her into initial remission. That would be great news because transplants come with higher medical risks. 

She's scheduled to have her second bone marrow biopsy on December 24 (Merry Christmas, right?) to see whether the induction chemo worked, and we're hoping for good news.

I (Anna Lee) decided to visit this week instead of waiting for Christmas since she's still feeling pretty good, so I'll have updates from the hospital tomorrow. 

We feel your prayers and appreciate it so much <3 

P.S. I am not a doctor and don't fully understand all the medical terms yet, so apologies if I've totally butchered descriptions and such!
Read More of the journal titled "Chemo Day 3 (Done with The Red Devil)"
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