Written by admin on 2009-03-12T06:10:24+0000">March 12, 2009 – 6:10 am
Gathering and sorting information, and trying to make life-and-death decisions, is an emotionally draining process that consumes enormous amounts of time and energy. Your reserves are depleted at the end of treatment. Wanting to avoid stress, you may be tempted to hurry the closure of your cancer experience. Rest assured that the short-term disadvantages of directing energies to getting a second opinion are far outweighed by the benefits of an informed decision about further treatment and follow-up.
When you go for a second opinion, the new doctor will perhaps inform you that he or she would have advised different treatment for your cancer when you were first diagnosed. Obviously, this does not help you in any way, since you can never go back where you were and make the decision again. Even though it just one doctor’s opinion, knowing that you might have bee treated differently can make you feel anxious about something that you cannot change.
A more common problem is that you will receive conflicting information or advice about your current situation. You will have to sort out which information to believe and which advice to follow. This process of deciding what to do with conflicting advice can be extremely stressful. In the long run, however, gathering information and sorting through the options will provide you the lifelong comfort of knowing that you made decisions on the basis of the best information available at the time.
Weigh and balance the answers to the following questions, and you will get an idea of the best option for you:
•What are all the treatment options available to me now, both conventional and investigational?
• What is the cure rate of each option?
• What is the response rate of each option?
•What are the short-term risks of each option?
•What are the long-term risks of each option?
•What are the risks of a second cancer?
• What are the risks of future medical problems?
•Will any current treatment options limit future treatment options?
*11/32/5*
