The doctors tell us that you don't die from CLL; you die with CLL. What they don't tell you very often is that even though it isn't the CLL that gets you, it could very well be a secondary primary malignancy caused by the CLL that does it.
Bennevisplace wrote on this a few months ago; i.e. the fact that we are considerably more likely to develop other cancers than the general population.
In my case, it was a skin cancer on my head which was excised via MOHs surgery. Biopsied as a pleomorphic dermal sarcoma and, it was thought, fully "cleared". Unfortunately for me, it metastasized to my lung nine months later. Thank God that when the cancer was removed from my head, my CLL doc was wise enough to book me with a good sarcoma guy for follow up which included a CT scan every three months. It was on one of the routine CT scans that the devil showed his face.
So now I'm taking immunotherapy via the drug Keytruda, widely advertised on U.S. television. The sarcoma doc's logic is that if the cancer could metastasize to my lung it could be headed elsewhere too so why not let the immunotherapy go after it wherever it is. Apparently my profiles are pretty good for using the Keytruda. I've gone through four cycles of infusions so far, with a PET scan scheduled for Monday which will be compared with the PET scan done at the beginning to see what's happening. I have a prayer army working for me with great trust in the Lord that no matter the direction this thing heads, everything will be alright in the end.
The moral of the story is that even if your CLL is well under control, keep your eyes wide open for other potential problems.