Everything on our platform is built on one belief: you have the right to be fully informed, and every decision belongs to you and your doctors — together. Across the retrospective analyses we have prepared, the moments that mattered most were rarely exotic. They were moments where an ordinary question, asked early, would have changed the path. Here are five of them.
1. “What percentage of the standard dose am I getting — and why?”
Reduced doses have legitimate uses — age, frailty, organ function. But in several aggressive cancers the dose is the mechanism of cure, and reductions designed for the very elderly are sometimes applied far more broadly. If the answer is less than 100%, you are entitled to hear the specific reason.
2. “What is the plan if the next scan is bad? Can we write it down?”
The strongest protection a patient can have is a written trigger: if the scan shows X, we move to Y. Plans written in advance are made calmly, with the evidence at hand. Then, if the moment comes, the only question left is whether the rule is being followed.
3. “Which treatments are we keeping in reserve — and for what?”
Good oncology is played several moves ahead. Some drugs work best saved for second line; spending them early can leave the cupboard bare at the worst moment. Ask what the second and third moves are, not just the first.
4. “Has my tumour been molecularly profiled — and did anything come back targetable?”
Modern cancer care increasingly depends on your tumour’s own genetics. A single test can reveal a fault with a matched drug — or a warning that standard chemotherapy is less likely to hold, which argues for escalating sooner. If a fault is found, ask: is there a drug for this, is there a trial, and should it lead my plan rather than trail it?
5. “Can my case go to a molecular tumour board?”
A tumour board is a panel of specialists reviewing your case together. Beyond a second opinion, it is often the door to clinical trials — which can provide cutting-edge drugs at no cost. Asking for one is normal, routine, and your right.
And one habit: keep every page
Collect every discharge summary, every scan report, every prescription — including the handwritten ones. In one analysis, the decisive facts of the entire case lived in scanned pages that an earlier review had skipped. Your records are evidence. One folder, everything, always.
If you would like help understanding your own reports, open a ticket and attach them — explaining exactly this, in plain language, is what our desk does.