Doctors: What they know and don't know  

Congratulations on the successful outcome! (And Merry Christmas, by the way.) Let's hope and pray that the doctors got all of it, and that you truly are cancer-free. But here's the thing: Doctors try to convince us that they know a lot about cancer. My dad's cancer journey spanned nearly a decade. It started in his throat with the removal of his larnyx. After that operation, they assured him, "Not a cancer cell in your body, sir!" But the cancer came back in different places. After the removal of his, um, "boys" the doctors again told him, "Not a cancer cell in your body!" They were wrong, and that wasn't the last of his operations. We learned two lessons the hard way: 1) Cancer can hide in places that a PET scan cannot detect; and 2) Doctors really don't know squat about cancer but will confidently assure you that they do. The only thing they got right was when they gave him six months to live. After dad died, our family's faith in the medical profession was profoundly shaken.