The patient and the doctor may think he's getting worse when in fact he's getting better. The fact of the matter is that if a patient feels good they live longer. If they don't, they don't. According to Dr. Gonzalez, tumor biology is a lot more complicated than is presently appreciated. Whatever the relevance of tumor size, the hair test Gonzalez has developed motivates patients.
Patients work hard to keep their test scores within range.
A bad score can mean a patient is stressed, or it could indicate the patient is slacking off. An increase in score is usually enough to motivate a change. Distracted by family problems, she didn't seek medicle advice until she almost couldn't breath. She knew the news wasn't good. Her breast cancer had re-occurred.