Luiz's very positive health update

The short story is - Luiz's doctors have now asked him to come in every two months (rather than monthly.) In other words there is very little progression of his chronic lymphocytic leukemia so why stress ourselves with monthly visits?

So Luiz gets the holidays off and only returns for a check up in mid January. YEAH!!

For those of you following along at home, Luiz's complete blood count shows very steady numbers, mostly in the NORMAL range, while his platelet count (on the low side) has actually been RISING over the past three months! While some other numbers are outside of normal ranges, they remain barely so - and holding. His most recent physical exam showed no growth in lymph nodes.

In other words - everything is great!

Maybe it is the Green Tea extract Luiz takes twice daily (my idea - limited research at the Mayo Clinic shows this to be a good idea), or maybe it is the herbal tea Luiz's mother got for him from a healer in southern Brazil (6 months of twice/daily doses), or maybe it is your thoughts and prayers (always appreciated), or maybe it is Luiz's unique biology and the biology of his cancer - who knows? But we are delighted to enjoy an extended period of calm. Let's hope it streatches out into the years to come.

In the mean time - research for improved, effective treatments continues to show promise. I am grateful to Dr. Chaya Venkat and the CLL Topics website community for keeping me informed.