In 1996, my dear sweet Mother was diagnosed with CLL. The first person in our family to have Leukemia and only a few to have other cancers. When I say "Family" I am speaking of Mother's parents, all their children and grandchildren. I did my homework! All I can say was my Mother suffered. I moved her into my home because she was getting weak and I was afraid she would fall and break a hip.
I've heard many times that you will not die from the cancer, which is so true. Mother spent many days hospitalized, and during chemo she would be so sick. My heart would ache for her, trying to take her pain and nausea away was my prayer for her. All I could do was keep her comfortable, keep the family around, and make her laugh when possible.
In January 2004, she went under the care of Hospice in-house. She died in March 2004. She had CLL, but the COPD was the cause of death.
One month later, May 2004, my husband was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma and died in 2008, on Flag Day, how appropriate, he was a WWII and Korean Veteran. Don't try to do the math, my husband was 20 years my senior.
Caring for my Mother and then my husband was the most rewarding thing I have ever done. This part of my life made me a better person. I went to the same Cancer Hospital for 12 years, eight with Mother, and four with my husband. Saw some of the same nurses and doctors, waited in some of the same waiting rooms, and prayed to the same God. I cried tears of sadness, tears of joy when we had good news, I comforted other patients many times when I was so tired I thought I would fall over from exhaustion. Still, that person needed a soft touch, a smiling face, a caring body and a sweet prayer.
In May 2015, I was diagnosed with CLL. I wasn't afraid, I had prayed and did more and more research, but the diagnosis still came a somewhat of a shock. I am back in those same waiting rooms, same doctors and nurses. But I know how good they are! I've been there before! I am still not afraid because I know I have a loving God to lean on and depend on. One thing I will always remember is that you won't die from the cancer, perhaps the illnesses that come along with the cancer may be too much for you.
I have a wonderful family left to help me when I need help, I still miss my Mother and husband, but I will kick this CLL or go down trying.
Moral to my story is~reach out and touch someone who needs a touch, a smile, a prayer, or just a sweet note that everything's going to be okay. Be a caregiver to someone or just be a caring friend. God blessed me when He allowed me to be a Caregiver and I will be forever grateful for it.
If you are too sick to be a Caregiver, just be kind and thoughtful to your Caregivers. It's a precious world we live in and a tender touch makes it a better world!
An exercise pill would be prescribed to every cancer patient worldwide and viewed as a major breakthrough in cancer treatment
Thoughts after Dame Deborah James
“Closing One Door, Opening Another” by Dr. Brian Koffman from CLL Society 
Specialty Treatment Center vs local oncologist
When your world changes but life goes on!
