I've had one ABVD chemotherapy treatment (well, two doses in one treatment, oncology math is funny) and a week later, the massive and painful swelling and throat compression, and chronic exhaustion and flu-like symptoms caused by my Hodgkin's have disappeared. Yes, I know I still have cancer and it will come back if I stop the treatments at one. Yes, I know I will be singing a different tune when I am wretching in the toilet and have no taste buds the three days after my next treatment. Yes, I will probably feel differently if and/or when my hair falls out. Yes, my right arm hurts where the ABVD was injected, especially the 'D' and I'll probably damage my veins from it.

But I've felt like dying (not that I was dying except in the most literal sense that everyday I was without treatment was a day closer to dying) since around August. Now I feel like a million bucks. Chemo did that.

Not to say that having a good attitude, eating right, and eating things like fruit and vegetable and drinking water et al don't help, but I'd much rather do that and take my chemo and radiation than trust in eating eye of newt and going to Dr. Ravi Ramalamadingdong for his "eat lima beans only" treatment.

My thoughts were brought on by a post by somebody taking me to task for cults in the 20's buying into the "grape therapy" for cancer, where eating grapes cures cancer. Yes, I do accept that eating grapes can help fight cancer. But my point is that it's suicide to rely on such a therapy solely. It's analagous to the Christian Science death cult relying on prayer and happy thoughts to cure disease, which incidentally, to them is just a mental apparition anyway.

And with the development of monoclonal treatments, it seems even the bad side effects like hair loss and mouth ulcers will disappear too, at least for Hodgkin's.

- you might want to talk to your doctor about getting a port-a-cath. It's a godsend if you have crappy veins and the nurses/techs have to dig around to get a good stick. Just a quick needle insertion into the port, and you're ready to go.

I love my port. It's the best thing I've done for quality of life during treatment.

-yes I understand hodgkin's is one of the very few cancers that can actually be stopped by chemo. many others do the "shrinking tumour" syndrome temporarily but ultimately make things worse. I'd say that it's also suicide to rely solely on an extremely toxic chemical as a treatment, but you seem to be aware of that fortunately (many oncologists agressively deny it).

-And your list of oncologists who agressively deny it is found where? Our resident oncologist has said many, many times that chemo alone is only effective as a cure in about 5% of cancer patients.

How about a list of web sites on medical professionals that advocate chemo alone as a treatment?

Interestingly enough, this is exactly the same lie that John the Whale told a month or two back. Despite many requests that he support his statement with facts, he was unable to do so.

So, there ya go. You claim (in your rather roundabout fashion) that many oncologists use chemo alone for cancer treatment. Now it's time for you to back that up with some proof. Just two or three conventional medical sites supporting you should do. Heck, I'll take just one that says chemo alone is the best treatment for cancer.