What is CLL?

I have been asked to describe what CLL is. CLL stands for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

There are two major categories of leukemia -- lymphocytic and myelogenous. Lymphotcytic leukemias affect the white blood cells, while myelogenous leukemias affect the red blood cells.

Within each of these two categories are two sub-categories, chronic and acute. So you have CLL, ALL, CML, and AML. There are a number of other less common forms of leukemia that don't seem to fall into these two major categories, but I won't go there.

Chronic forms are usually somewhat slow growing but are difficult to get into remission. Acute forms of leukemia advance rapidly and require immediate treatment.

What is white blood, what does it do, and is it really white? The white blood cells fight off infections and viruses. There are B-cells, T-cells, and NK-cells. The B-cells fight off infections. The T-cells fight off viruses. And the NK-cells attack whatever is left over. NK, by the way, stands for natural killer. No kidding.

Red blood cells carry oxygen and nutrients through the body. Hemoglobin is a red blood cell which carries oxygen to your muscles. Hematocrit carries iron and, I guess, other nutrients through your body. If your doctor says that you're anemic, he is saying that your red blood cells, hematocrit and hemoglobin, are at low levels.

CLL is a disease that affects the B-type white blood cells. It renders these cells incompetent. In other words it makes them unable to fight off infections. But not only are these B-cells rendered useless, they don't die off when they are suppose to. So your body becomes saturated over time with the diseased B-cells. Left untreated, CLL will cause you to get more infections. Eventually you succumb to pneumonia, an infection of your lungs.

So there is my leukemia primer for you. Unfortunately, I could fill up quite a number of pages with information that I've learned, but I'll spare you the details. At least for now.