Stage IV classical hodgkins

123Kra

Are there any survivors? my husband is 34 and is just starting ABVD. We would like to hear some stories that inspire  hope.

po18guy

Stage means little in lymphoma

Treatment places the vast majority of Hodgkin's patients in full remission and they remain there. Something like 75-80% or so. Also, stage means little, as lymphoma remains treatable at all stages. Staging mainly directs treatment and is not a real predictor of outcome. Here is a link: http://www.lymphoma.org/site/pp.asp?c=bkLTKaOQLmK8E&b=6300137

Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3

po18guy said:

Stage means little in lymphoma

Treatment places the vast majority of Hodgkin's patients in full remission and they remain there. Something like 75-80% or so. Also, stage means little, as lymphoma remains treatable at all stages. Staging mainly directs treatment and is not a real predictor of outcome. Here is a link: http://www.lymphoma.org/site/pp.asp?c=bkLTKaOQLmK8E&b=6300137

I have a perfect reference !

If you want proof that there is always hope verses Lymphoma, click on po18guy's "About Me" section.    There is always hope unless someone chooses otherwise.

And although po has had multiple relapses and too many drugs to list, most cases of Lymphoma are cured, or at least controlled, rapidly.   Hope is the norm here.  Hopelessness, almost never encountered.

max

ShadyGuy

po18guy said:

Stage means little in lymphoma

Treatment places the vast majority of Hodgkin's patients in full remission and they remain there. Something like 75-80% or so. Also, stage means little, as lymphoma remains treatable at all stages. Staging mainly directs treatment and is not a real predictor of outcome. Here is a link: http://www.lymphoma.org/site/pp.asp?c=bkLTKaOQLmK8E&b=6300137

Not exactly

Stage means little as far as response to treatment is concerned. However, especially in FNHL, a stage 1 diagnosis where the disease is confined to a small area, can often be cured with radiation therapy. Otherwise, while its very treatable, FNHL is not considered curable. The FNHL is always hanging back there and ready to pounce again. Its yours for life.

po18guy

Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 said:

I have a perfect reference !

If you want proof that there is always hope verses Lymphoma, click on po18guy's "About Me" section.    There is always hope unless someone chooses otherwise.

And although po has had multiple relapses and too many drugs to list, most cases of Lymphoma are cured, or at least controlled, rapidly.   Hope is the norm here.  Hopelessness, almost never encountered.

max

Updated

Max, I just updated my history. I guess that quite a bit has happened since I first posted it. 

po18guy

ShadyGuy said:

Not exactly

Stage means little as far as response to treatment is concerned. However, especially in FNHL, a stage 1 diagnosis where the disease is confined to a small area, can often be cured with radiation therapy. Otherwise, while its very treatable, FNHL is not considered curable. The FNHL is always hanging back there and ready to pounce again. Its yours for life.

Even that is changing

Correct on the radiation. A fellow over at lymphoma.com has had a transplant for follicular and is currently in full response. In any event, follicular is considered to be a chronic, manageable disease and, although not every case is well controlled, the picture is improving regularly.

Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3

ShadyGuy said:

Not exactly

Stage means little as far as response to treatment is concerned. However, especially in FNHL, a stage 1 diagnosis where the disease is confined to a small area, can often be cured with radiation therapy. Otherwise, while its very treatable, FNHL is not considered curable. The FNHL is always hanging back there and ready to pounce again. Its yours for life.

"Definitinonal Issues"

Shadyguy,

Some forms of Lymphoma are per protcol or medical definition regarded as "incurable." Metastatic Prostate cancer is another such disease.

But as Po noted, many of these are controllable for life; patients live with them, rather than dying from them.  This is often true for decades at a time.  I see this more often at the PCa Board than here (my other cancer), but it is true in Lymphoma also. Often completely symptom-free.

To me, living years or decades symptom-free is as good as a cure, regardless of nomenclature.

max

 

 

Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3

po18guy said:

Updated

Max, I just updated my history. I guess that quite a bit has happened since I first posted it. 

Soon

Po,

I will read your About page soon, my dear friend.    The clinical version of Tolstoy's War and Peace !  I hope you are not now over your previous 18 chemotherapy drugs !