Fair warning: this article has nothing to do with CLL. Or at best, only a tenuous link if you are interested in dealing with illness, grief and loss. This article describes my visit to Dharamsala, the seat of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. If you are not big on travelogues, hit the delete button now.

Cancer is the ultimate betrayal, our own bodies turning against us. There is something surreal in fighting an enemy that lives in the very DNA that defines who we are.  Here is an intriguing perspective of cancer, “the emperor of all maladies”.

As many of you know, bendamustine (“Treanda”) has been approved by the FDA for use in treating CLL. There is more to this than meets the eye. Here are some thoughts on the subject of bendamustine and clinical trial process in general.