Focusing On Patients

Special delivery
(continued)

"We've known for some time that weon get better results with chemotherapy and radiation," says Dalrymple. "But it is very aggressive therapy, and the patient often needs to be hospitalized for side effects."

Hampton can attest to that - she needed two blood transfusions and was pretty sick throughout her therapy. "I didn't lose my hair, but I lost a lot of weight," she recalls. "It feels like you have morning sickness all the time."

"As you can see, I'm healthy now," she adds, laughing. "I wish I'd kept some of the weight off."

Today, Dimonique, the daughter she gave birth to, is a healthy one-year-old, and Hampton stands a 70 to 80 percent chance of a cancer-free future. She knows she'll need regular check-ups for years to come, just as she knows she must make time for regular Pap smears.

"I wasn't getting to the doctor like I should have I was too busy taking care of everyone else, "Hampton says. "I realized I've got to look after myself so that I can take care of everyone else."

That's something on which her husband and children - all happy to have Mom back home again - would agree.