More about Hodgkins

Lots of you have been asking about Hodgkins disease and want to know more so this post gives you some of the background resources that can help you find out more.

The excellent www.cancerbacup.org.uk will have everything most of you would want to know about the disease and also about the AVBD chemotherapy which may be helpful for folks who will run into me over the next three months treatment http://www.cancerbacup.org.uk/Treatments/Chemotherapy/Combinationregimes/ABVDregime. They produce a specific Hodgkins booklet which is very straightforward and readable.

A similar but more detailed overview can be found in the Lymphoma research webpage www.lrf.org.uk/en/1/infdispathod.html including staging and treatment options.

An academic review paper which looks at current (2003) research, staging, pro's and con's of various treatment options, research trials and chemo types including StanfordV, BEACOPP and AVBD can be found at www.asheducationbook.org/cgi/content/full/2003/1/225 this is a bit heavy going at the start but the overview of treatments is good. However if you are reading this as a sufferer be sure to talk about this with your consultants as a number of the trials did not work out as well as hoped and some results are improved for only specific stages and forms of the disease. For my early stage of the disease and first treatment AVBD is believed to be the gold standard.

In addition to the above there are a number of Hodgkins bulletin boards and Lymphoma information networks which can be helpful, alternative approaches and complementary approaches are covered well by Rosie Daniel in her books and information packs, but for Hodgkins specifically mainstream "nuke the bugger" approach is the way to go from my reading - with a sensible approach to diet and vitamen supplements to help heal and boost the immune system during and after chemo.

The excellent support at the Maggies Centres if you are affected by cancer in the UK is also worth looking into, here in Edinburgh they have a great centre.

By for today