Debora Dale Alt logo
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
where fear and passion collide
Debora Dale Alt logo
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
where fear and passion collide

We’re either at the midway point or right near the end. Originally, the doctors told my mom she’d need six 5-day chemo treatments. Well, three of those have been completed and, fortunately, the side effects have been minimal – considering what they could have been.

Great news is that her body’s responses so far have exceeded their expectations. Greater news is that the next round of chemo – her fourth – might be the last she’ll need.

We, of course, are hoping for that. That round will begin the Monday before New Year’s Day and will end the day after New Years. Daughter and I will be here again that month for the week-after care, but Hubby will join us as well. We’ll have much to celebrate this year. Possibly the end of successful Leukemia treatments, and treatments whose side-effects were manageable.

The horrors of chemo still exist but not to the level they were before. The very thought that, in controlled amounts, poison can be introduced into the human body and actually help the human body fight disease is an amazing thing. If this chemo has done what it’s supposed to do, my mom’s CLL will go into remission.

Remission can last 4 or more years. With all science has learned about this disease – and others – in recent years, and with all science has done to defeat or stave off recurrences, a four-year remission might bring new and wonderfully successful ways of destroying – dare I say, “curing” – this disease.

We have a long way to go and nothing is set in stone – we may have to endure the full six 5-day treatments – but we are hopeful and optimistic. Hope alone is a wonderful gift our family has been given for this holiday season.