Main description:

Threatened with a rare and life-threatening cancer, a scientist works with his doctors to make decisions in the face of uncertainty. After patients are diagnosed with a dreaded disease, they learn two daunting facts: that no doctor has all the answers, and that there are no answers, only odds. For the patients (and their families) who want to be involved in the key choices regarding treatment, Stephen Schneider is the ideal guide. A climate scientist, his life's work is decision making in the face of great uncertainty. This important book is both his own gripping story of working with his doctors to get the best care possible, and also a brilliant critique of the flawed system under which most doctors must now practice. The vital, even life-saving lessons of the books include: advice on obtaining and interpreting odds; how to seek better treatments that may not fit the usual "standard of care"; ways to get treated as a unique individual and not the mythical Average Patient; how to recognize the decisions that you, rather than the doctors must make; and, most important, how to build a partnership with a sometimes reluctant doctor.