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If you have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, you should have the opportunity
to visit with your treating physician about the exact nature and stage of your cancer,
so that you know what to expect from the treatment and also have a clear understanding of the
goals and limitations of treatment.
That is because non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is really a large group of illnesses with certain
diseases that are slow growing and will respond favorably to chemotherapy but may not ever
be able to be completely cured, or a very rapidly growing cancer that can lead to death
within weeks to months of the diagnosis. So it is very clear that you have to understand
your disease and what to expect with regard to its treatment.
There are oftentimes patients who seek to compare themselves to other patients by making
visits to the internet or talking with other patients in the waiting room, and to be honest
with you, you really have to know the details of your lymphoma problem.
Now most patients who are diagnosed with lymphoma are treated with chemotherapy, which can be
given by vein or by mouth. There are other patients with lymphoma whose disease is growing
so slowly and causing so few symptoms, that it really can be carefully watched and not
treated immediately.
In contradistinction, patients with rapidly growing lymphomas are oftentimes treated with
aggressive, high dose chemotherapy on a very frequent intense schedule with the goal to
eliminate that lymphoma and cure that patient’s cancer.
Finally, certain lymphomas can benefit from the addition treatment with radiation and
that radiation is generally given by the radiation oncologist on a schedule, Monday through Friday,
for a prescribed number of weeks of treatment.
The combination of chemotherapy and radiation can oftentimes be curative for patients with
early stage lymphoma. For patients with advanced lymphoma, generally chemotherapy, plus or
minus radiation, can be given.
Finally, I think it is very important that you understand that you really cannot compare
the disease that you have with general lymphoma information that you might receive, either
in the mail or over the internet.
So please understand by talking with your Doctor what to expect from your personal illness.