And, no matter how daunting that consent form, I wanted to live. And, thanks to CIS, this was my informed decision after knowing all my options. When you have cancer, you feel like many aspects of your life are totally beyond your control. The protocol, while it had its unpleasant moments, was no where near as horrible as the consent form made it sound. Additionally, I was glad to know that what they learned from my experiences and my side effects would help other people in the future.
Clinical trials are invaluable.
I strongly recommend anyone with cancer explore the trials that might be appropriate for them. Another factor I believe is important is treating the whole person. When you have cancer your immediate concern is to deal with the biological. That was obviously my first course of action. But I also knew that I had to examine the dis-ease in the other dimensions of my life.