In 2008, 南希·怀特·甘布尔得知她患有一种罕见的白血病，叫做急性早幼粒细胞白血病. APL，一种 acute myeloid leukemia, used to be a difficult cancer to manage. Fortunately, today it is not only treatable, but curable. After two years of treatment, 赌博, 现在59岁, 她恢复了健康，并继续在纳帕谷积极从事慈善工作, 她住的地方.
How did you find out you had leukemia?
I was diagnosed on July 1, 2008. I had been feeling poorly for weeks. 我有疲劳、食欲不振、轻微发烧、轻微咳嗽和疼痛等症状. I kept checking in with my primary care doctor [in an HMO]. 我几乎每周都去，他一直说这是一种病毒综合症. But I wasn't getting any better. I knew there was something going on.
I went to see another doctor outside of the HMO, 谁说我应该让我的初级保健十大赌博平台排行榜安排验血. 然后有一天，我刷牙后漱口，嘴里发紫, black clot of blood came out, the sort you'd see if you had a tooth pulled. 碰巧那天我和我的初级保健十大赌博平台排行榜约好了. So I told him again that I wasn't feeling well, that I'd been short of breath and was having night sweats, which I knew could be caused by some kinds of blood cancer. I asked him, "Do you think I might have cancer?" He said, "Oh no, you don't have to worry." But I asked him to order blood work and he agreed to do it.
I was driving back to my home in St. Helena and all of a sudden my gums started to bleed profusely. 我打电话给我的(非卫生组织的)十大赌博平台排行榜，他让我马上过来. As soon as I got to his office, 他开始在我的牙龈上包上纱布，打电话给卫生组织要我的血液检查结果. The tests showed my platelet count was 12,000.
很低吗??
哦,是的. The normal is around 140,000. 他说:“南希，你必须马上去十大赌博平台排行榜. You're going to need a blood transfusion.“在急诊室，十大赌博平台排行榜说我可能得了白血病. 我住院了，输了血小板，然后做了骨髓活组织检查, which confirmed I did have leukemia.
你知道吗? then it was APL?
It took a few days to determine that. 纳帕的肿瘤学家告诉我，如果结果是APL，那将是我们的第一个突破，因为它是可治愈的，通常不需要骨髓移植. 当我得到诊断时，我说我想去加州大学旧金山分校接受治疗. So the oncologist contacted Dr. 劳埃德·达蒙, director of the Hematology and Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinic 加州大学旧金山分校. 几天后，有一个床位空出来了，我来到加州大学旧金山分校开始治疗，这将挽救我的生命.
What was that treatment?
It's a process that takes nearly two years. It starts with what they call the induction, 这是一种高强度的化疗，你需要在十大赌博平台排行榜呆上七周或更长时间. 你不能出去，因为你不能接触细菌或其他东西. And because your platelets are low you're prone to bleeding. 十大赌博平台排行榜和护士不断地警告你不要撞到你的头或修剪你的角质层或做任何可能导致你割伤自己的事情，因为你可能会失血过多. I don't know if I really grasped what could happen.
So you were being given chemotherapy?
I was getting one drug, 道诺霉素, intravenously and taking another drug, 被称为全反式维甲酸或ATRA[它是维生素a的亲戚], 丸剂. From the get-go it was one hurdle after another.
你是什么意思??
这种特殊的化疗鸡尾酒有各种并发症的风险, including blood clots and bleeding in the brain. About two and a half weeks into my treatment, 我开始感到非常轻微的头痛，然后疼痛变得非常强烈，就像有人在吃一颗药丸一样,000-pound baseball bat and pounding on my head. They did a CT scan and Dr. 达蒙告诉我我有两处出血，大脑两侧各有一处. I remember him standing over the bed, 从神经学角度检查我，让我倒着拼写“十大赌博平台排行榜”. 我说:“D... L...我想我还没说到“R”就问他:“你能不能选个简单点的词??" They moved me to intensive care.
Did you have to have surgery?
You know, that is the miracle. Dr. 达蒙告诉我，他们可能需要在我的头骨上钻孔来缓解压力, but they didn't have to do it. 十大赌博平台排行榜给我注射了大剂量的强的松来消肿.
你是幸运的.
Oh my gosh, I thank God every day. Bleeding of the brain is very, very dangerous.
Once you recovered from that, what happened?
Then I had to continue my treatment and unfortunately, 全反式维甲酸会引起一种叫做ATRA综合征的副作用, which is another thing you don't want. It causes a buildup of fluid in your lungs. 我的胸腔和肺里充满了大约20磅的液体. 我发烧了. It was almost like pneumonia. The pressure on my chest made it hard to breathe. I had to be on a diuretic. 然后他们给我的抗生素让我长出了皮疹，感觉就像晒伤一样.
All these problems must have been very discouraging.
Knowing I had more than a year of treatment ahead, it was hard for me to see how I was going to make it. 就在脑溢血之后，我问我的十大赌博平台排行榜:“我会死吗?" And he said, "No, you are not going to die." I was ready to give up, but he gave me hope.
事情改善了吗??
Yes, the problems did dissipate. 他们警告我，任何并发症都会在治疗的前七周发生. After that, I tolerated the later cycles of chemo pretty well.
There's also an unusual drug used to treat APL, right?
他们使用砷. 我在加州大学旧金山分校接受了这种治疗，回家后在门诊进行了10周的治疗.
当你的十大赌博平台排行榜告诉你他想用砒霜治疗你的时候，你是怎么想的?
我吓得要死. 但是当你听到这个领域的顶级专家说这将增加你治愈的机会, then you have to do it. 你知道吗?? 砒霜对我没有副作用，这让我很惊讶. 事实上，在我接受砒霜注射的那段时间里，我感觉还不错.
But arsenic can cause heart problems.
来保护我的心, 每天早晨，在注射砒霜之前，我都要做心电图来检查我的QTc(一种测量心律的方法).] If it was too fast, I could not get arsenic that day.
All told, how long did you have to do treatments?
I had three cycles of chemo, 我要在十大赌博平台排行榜接受两周的化疗，然后休息一个月来恢复. 然后我不得不继续服用ATRA，一周服用，一周休息，持续了一年. I wasn't a big fan of it, but Dr. 达蒙说这是一项额外的保险以确保我所有的牢房都井然有序.
Were you being monitored during that time?
They were checking my blood every three weeks, 检查血小板, 白细胞(检测感染的迹象)和肝脏(检测中毒的迹象).
At what point did your platelet count return to normal?
My platelets were normal after the first treatment. When I left UCSF the first time they were over 250,在我结束治疗后，他们给我做了一个骨髓测试来确定.
那么五年之后，你的病情是缓解了还是治愈了呢?
我被治愈了.
一些研究表明，这种类型的白血病可能在拉丁裔背景的人群中更常见?
这是正确的. 我有一半的墨西哥血统，如果我的种族背景与这种联系被认识到，我可能会更快地做出诊断. 我试图提醒拉丁裔社区他们的风险，并让媒体知道. That knowledge might be lifesaving information.
I understand you also have endowed a fellowship 加州大学旧金山分校?
它是南希·怀特·甘布尔血液恶性肿瘤[捐赠]基金. 这是为了支持培训未来的研究员他们将接受血液相关癌症方面的培训. 我不能不对十大赌博平台排行榜和护士们表示感谢和感激，就离开了这整个经历. The first fellow started in October. I am thrilled to meet this person.
