[CLTann]

I reluctantly add my personal opinion to above well written replies. I am reluctant because my remarks are not in line with those who are eager to do the most for the patient.

People often felt that it is their moral and medical duty to give the harshest or most aggressive treatments to the patients so that no one would feel guilty if anything did not come out right. I don't consider most aggressive must be the best or most optimum treatment. The whole idea of cancer treatments is an evaluation of statistics. From histories of treatments thousands of patients have gone through, the medical panel came out with scientic based results to predict what would happen if the patient is given the same meds. However, the end results are often not predictable. The side effects of these treating methods are most likely certain. Sometimes, these side effects outweigh the benefits of the meds.

Very few doctors would oppose a patient's desire to get the harshest med/treatment, because they are trained to avoid lawsuits. However, you can always put your questions to the doctors in a way that do not infringe on their honest proposals without getting them into legal troubles.

Always remember that chemo kills fast dividing cancer cells, but it also kills healthy cells at a time that you really need them to fight cancer cells. Radiation kills cancer cells but also causes cancers. And, every person has a limit of cumulative dosage of radiation in the lifetime, there is no cure to reverse this process.