If a child has Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia cancer (ALL) can they continue with school?
Just wondering if it would be a good idea for my daughter to continue with school whilst she was getting her chemo done? Or would it stress her out?
- B
depends severity and areas. if she is very early stage then probably, may get sick easily though. I would need to know how advanced the primitive shift is to really answer this question. The less the primitive shift the better.
- rockdjchick
ALL is the most common form of blood cancer for people under 20. I'm 36 and was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma last January...in remission since April. I also work for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and my co-worker has an 11-year-old with ALL. He's been going through treatment for over 4 years. He also came down with the swine flu.
The problem with schools is that they are not constant on using Lysol on doorknobs and desktops. Kids pass germs so quickly and easily. Your daughter's immune system is being compromised right now so she has a better chance of picking up a virus, so you might want to think about keeping her home until after the flu season is over. After that, she will hopefully be strong enough to fight off the secondary viruses out there.
It's either that or send her to school with hand sanitizer and Lysol wipes, insisting that she wipe down every door knob, toilet handle, and desk before coming in contact with them. It's sounds extreme, but it's necessary when you have a compromised immune system.
- Nah Z
It really depends on your daughter and how she's reacting to the chemo: people's energy levels and side effects REALLY vary. At this point, my suggestion would be to make plans with the school that she will come in on "good days" and have some way to make up for "bad days", like at-home tutoring.
As the other answerer said, another important thing to consider is how her immune system is doing. If her counts go really low, it's probably not a good idea for her to be in school. If they're higher and, ideally, stable, then you can talk to your doctor about the kinds of precautions she would need to take to be safe in school while she's still on or recovering from chemo: as the other answerer said, gloves or alcohol to touch surfaces, possibly n95 masks, not being exposed to school cafeteria food which is often not cooked hot enough to be safe for someone with a compromised immune system, so on.
What I'm trying to say is, YES, you should absolutely try and get her back into school whenever she's got enough energy to be there and it is medically safe: it will help her maintain a sense of normalcy, keep her from falling behind in school, and provide an easy means for her to stay in contact with her friends and peers. Being in school is healthy for a child. Just make plans and use a bit of reason on when and if she will be going.
Leukemia — Comprehensive overview covers symptoms, causes, risk factors, treatment of this blood-related cancer.
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