As a community oncologist, I fully embrace the opportunity to cure cancer, but I find the greatest services I provide are to palliate and enhance survivorship. We live in a tremendously fortunate time of scientific discovery. The weapons we have in our armamentarium of cancer killers grow in magnitude and specificity daily. Learning then to continue to balance each patient’s battle with their quality of life is practicing the art of medicine. Although most patients hope that their cancer will be cured, the daily reality of a community oncologist lies in the subtle art of helping patients to manage life with cancer and to strike the right balance between cancer control and quality of life. This management challenge really lies in the individual variability of each patient and in being able to choose the agent that fits the patient, not just the disease.
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