Hodgkins Disease (cont.)

Learning you have Hodgkin lymphoma can change your life and the lives of those close to you. These changes can be hard to handle. It's normal for you, your family, and your friends to have many different and sometimes confusing feelings.

Concerns about treatments and managing side effects, hospital stays, and medical bills are common. You may also worry about caring for your family, keeping your job, or continuing daily activities.

Here's where you can go for support:

• Doctors, nurses, and other members of your health care team can answer many of your questions about treatment, working, or other activities.



• Social workers, counselors, or members of the clergy can be helpful if you want to talk about your feelings or concerns. Often, social workers can suggest resources for financial aid, transportation, home care, or emotional support.



• Support groups can also help. In these groups, patients or their family members meet with other patients or their families to share what they have learned about coping with the disease and the effects of treatment. Groups may offer support in person, over the telephone, or on the Internet. You may want to talk with a member of your health care team about finding a support group.



• Information specialists at 1-800-4-CANCER and at LiveHelp (http://www.cancer.gov/help) can help you locate programs, services, and publications. They can give you names of national organizations that offer services to people with cancer and their families.

Doctors all over the country are conducting many types of clinical trials (research studies in which people volunteer to take part). Clinical trials are designed to answer important questions and to find out whether new approaches are safe and effective.

Research already has led to advances, and doctors continue to search for more effective methods for treating Hodgkin lymphoma. Doctors are studying methods of new and better ways to treat it, and ways to improve quality of life.

People who join clinical trials may be among the first to benefit if a new approach is effective. And even if people in a trial do not benefit directly, they still make an important contribution by helping doctors learn more about Hodgkin lymphoma and how to control it. Although clinical trials may pose some risks, doctors do all they can to protect their patients.

If you are interested in being part of a clinical trial, talk with your doctor.

SOURCE: U.S. National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, www.cancer.gov

Last Editorial Review: 2/5/2008

Source: MedicineNet.com
http://www.medicinenet.com/hodgkins_disease/article.htm