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In my opinion, deciding a course of cancer treatment is a very personal and
individual matter that should be decided by the patient and their loved ones
without judgment from those outside of that circle. In this article, I am
going to discuss what factors went into my decision to go through chemotherapy
for my Stage 3 Hodgkin's Disease (Lymphoma). As you are well aware, many
of the treatments recommended by the medical establishment are incredible taxing
on your body and can cause an enormous amount of damage to the patient.
When people ask me what chemotherapy was like, I tell them it felt like there
was a nuclear war going on inside of me. There is a lot of truth to that.
Many types of chemo and radiation kill healthy cells right along with the
cancer. The first things I wanted to know when talking to my doctor about his
suggested treatment, ABVD (short for the names of the 4 nasty chemicals
in the cocktail) Chemotherapy, was 1) What are my odds of survival? and
2) What are the side effects of this treatment? For me the odds of
survival were 50% and the side effects were many. The most
significant side effect was that there was about a 5% chance of
developing a secondary cancer, like Leukemia. I decided that going
through the chemo was worth the 50% chance of survival. I also
believed that I could increase those odds significantly if I exercised,
changed my diet, added natural supplements to my daily diet, maintained
a positive attitude, prayed a lot, and asked others to pray for me.
Having been through the chemo, I can guarantee you that I would not go
through that for a 10 or 20% chance of survival! To me, the lower
the chance of survival and the greater the side effects, the more open I
am to alternative treatments.
A note about clinical trials:
Clinical trials can also be an excellent treatment choice in some
circumstances. One of the common misconceptions about clinical
trials is the fear that you may receive a placebo (useless sugar pill).
However, clinical trials typically compare today's common treatment with
a newer, experimental treatment. So, you will get one or the
other. Just make sure your understand the risks and odds of the
treatment options within a clinical trial so you can make an informed
decision.
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