Insist on the most conservative surgery possible; if over 60, explore the possibility of taking a drug like tamoxifen alone.If you do take tamoxifen, make sure to have periodic tests on your eyes, your liver and your womb (your endometrium), and take any drug or radiation therapies for the shortest possible time. Remember, if you haven't gone through menopause yet, no studies have proved that tamoxifen will work for you.

Don't hesitate to take the best from conventional and alternative therapies and use them together. Contact an organization like the Bristol Cancer Help Centre (Grove House, Cornwallis Grove, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4PG) or People Against Cancer (Box 10, Otho, IA 50560 USA ) which offer a variety of approaches to cancer that can enhance the effectiveness of orthodox treatments. Bristol Cancer employs a holistic approach encompassing diet, exercise, mediation, relaxation, visualization, and even psychology in order to help you to change the lifestyle that has made you ill. The widely publicized study supposedly showing that their system made women more ill was a botch job, and the authors of it have retracted the results (see WDDTY Vol 1 No 11). Many of their dietary views are beginning to find endorsement in the orthodox literature; various studies have shown that high fibre diets with exercise can inhibit cancer growth, and that pesticides and other environmental factors can be contributory factors in the development of disease (See The Lancet 10 October 1992, and 18 May 1991, also JAMA, 16 October 1991).

Read books by Bernie Siegel and Louise Hay. Dr Siegel is a surgeon who nevertheless believes (as do an increasing number of immunologists) that your mind can help your body to heal. He encourages his patients to use complementary therapies like visualization and diet with chemotherapy and surgery. Louise Hay beat cancer with this body/mind approach.

If you don't wish to use the conventional approach, see WDDTY Vol 2 No 7 for a list of alternative cancer therapies that have shown promise.

Don't be a "good" patient. Many studies have demonstrated that patients who speak up for their rights and refuse to accept gloomy prognoses live longer than those who unthinkingly follow doctor's orders. Above all, don't accept a death sentence.