Hi washngo - my mum's got it too. Also had it for an age, about 15 years. And, is fine!
Being newly diagnosed is a scary time - and, you don't know hwo the disease will unfold...but, in all honesty, my mother is a fairly typical example of disease progression.
So, her blood levels are fairly steady, they go up and they come down. She has recently had some extrusions through her skin, so the cancerous cells clump together (usually in the lymph nodes, mind) and come up as small skin tumours. These are easy to spot, quickly whipped out, couple of zaps of radiotherapy, job done.
She is in her mid 60s and does everything she wants to. She is fine. She gets tired, my dad reports that she is grumpy (though, I'm not sure that can be attributed to the CLL, it's perhaps more to do with his inability to put stuff away) and I think she finds times where her energy levels are not as good.
To be honest, we've sort of just absorbed CLL into our family life. It's there, bumbling along in the background, and might be a problem one day - but, that day's not today.
The other thing worth bearing in mind is that research is finding new ways of treating things all the time. So, by the time she did need actual treatment, it might not be as unpleasant a prospect as it seems today - certainly, that's our situation. 10 years ago the chemo was awful, things have really improved, and she still isn't facing that as a treatment.
HTH. PM me anytime. And, whilst no one's looking