I asked my doctor why some people have both chemo
and radiation (like I did) and some only have chemo.
She said that different cases and stages have
different treatments. Radiation is not always indicated.
Whatever that means. Another person was going through
treatment for Hodgkins at the same time as me. He was from
Kansas and had moved to Texas to undergo treatment. He
had done research on the internet to find the best
possible places for treatment. Apparently I was lucky. My
surgeon recommended my oncologist, who in turn set me up
with Dallas' Medical City Cancer Center. I also talked
on several occasions through a program run by M.D.
Anderson in Houston, wherein they arrange for other
survivors to call and talk to you over the phone. It helped
me tremendously. I even talked with a woman who had
survived stage IV B Hodgkins.<br>I don't know why, but the
question of my mortality never did enter my head. It just
never occured to me that the treatments wouldn't work.
I don't know if it was my own innate optimism, or
the effects of talking with so many survivors. I just
never had a feeling of doom. Chemo and radiation
weren't exactly a walk in the park, but I figured if I
was feeling bad it was working. Another naive
assumption, but, hey......whatever it takes, right? LOL Good
luck, all.