VICKI AND I HOPE THAT this book can be a resource and a comfort for patients at every stage of cancer. It is our hope that this book empowers readers to ask important questions of their doctors and to engage with their care team in a meaningful way. We also want to demonstrate what care can be like when oncology and palliative care work together, because these two disciplines together can do more for patients than either can do alone. As an oncologist working closely with Vicki, I’ve learned that integrating palliative care and cancer treatment helps patients to better understand their diagnosis and to better manage their symptoms throughout treatment so that they can live as well as they can for as long as they can.
What we hope has shone through in these pages is that Vicki and I feel honored to do this work. We get to witness the courage of patients and families as they endeavor to live fully despite an uncertain future. It is enormously rewarding and humbling to care for patients with cancer. We have learned so much from our patients, who have been extraordinarily generous to us by sharing their insights but also by allowing us to see their strength, creativity, and humor while facing this difficult diagnosis. Vicki and I are better parents, spouses, and physicians because of our relationships with our patients. They have taught us everything we needed to know to write this book.