Modern medicine in general and cancer treatment in particular, is very imperfect. There is so much about the disease process that is not understood. In an ideal world, patients would consider the benefits and the risks of each modality of treatment and make an informed decision with the guidance of a wise doctor. But hurried doctors seldom spend much time discussing the benefits and the risks and few patients ever question whether treatment may do more harm than good.

It would be ideal if more people researched their disease and its treatment before the treatments were administered, but we usually don't have the luxury of time to learn what the oncologists are not telling us when it matters most. It is scary when we try to give oncologists the benefits of doing what needs to be done but we have to learn to ask more questions and seek more answers.