My mother had CML, and she took Gleevec for 10 years, only getting off of it when she wound up in a hospital for some other reason(they didn't have the medicine to give to her). But, it kept her leukemia in check. She was weak and needed procrit shots to build up her blood.

That is the difficult part of cancer. The doctors won't commit to you being off of treatments, because they don't know for sure either way. They have statistics and models, but each person responds to different treatments differently. I believe this is was is called the "new normal" for us survivors.

Hi Melmom, did your oncologist say that you were in remission and wouldn't need any more treatments? Were the treatments you were on working? Regardless with CLL we'll always need to be tested every 3 months. I go tomorrow for my 3 mth testing and port flush. There is always the possibility until they can come up with a cure. How are you feeling? How did you do on your treatments? You're in my prayers...I hope all is good with you and your family. God bless and keep fighting!