”Doctor, how much hope do we have for a cure with this surgery?” As an oncologic surgeon, I am often surrounded by such questions. Whenever this happens, my answer is always roundabout, “Lung cancer, we generally don’t talk about cure. We talk about treatment outcome in terms of five-year survival rate, and for early stage patients, the five-year survival rate is high, and for advanced stage patients, the five-year survival rate is low. Treatment outcome, to a large extent, is determined by the stage of his disease itself.” The family would politely show that they understood, but I knew that this answer did not solve the problem itself, turning their backs and walking away, not satisfied. The direct answer was, “Lung cancer is essentially incurable, and recurrence and metastasis are to be expected in patients who already have lung cancer.” Is it cruel to patients and their families? I have seriously adopted this approach to answer as well. The question that leads to the next question is, what then is the role of continued treatment? To clarify the diagnosis? Prolong survival? Improve quality of life? ”Since every patient will face recurrence and metastasis, how relevant is treatment?” ”Since every person faces death, how meaningful is survival?” These two questions are so similar; what is the meaning of our efforts now for something that is destined to happen? There are many discussions about the meaning of life. There is very little exploration of attitudes toward disease treatment. What are the current results of lung cancer treatment? A few boring figures can best explain the problem: the five-year survival rate for stage I patients (the earliest stage, accounting for less than 10% of all patients) is about 75%; for stage II patients, it is 50%; for stage IIIA patients, it is about 25%; and for stage IV patients, it is less than 1%. The real effect of chemotherapy, which is highly expected, is still poor. Currently, the average effective rate of first-line chemotherapy drugs recommended by NCCN (which can reduce the size of tumor by more than 50%) is only 30-40%, and 70-80% of the pathology can control the tumor not to continue to grow in the short term, but there are still more than 20% of patients whose tumors are growing and metastasizing even in the midst of chemotherapy. The reality is so cruel, in today’s underdeveloped medical world, facing the status quo of “lung cancer is still incurable and even difficult to control”, what can we do? Let it happen, let it happen, let it happen, let it happen with rational thinking, with positive attitude, with the best mindset to face, to choose, to undertake. We need to know what we want most, what is the most important, and what is the purpose of our active treatment. The purpose of treatment is different for different diseases, and it is also different for different conditions of the same disease. Broadly speaking, there are only a few purposes: to relieve discomfort, improve symptoms and prolong survival. For early stage lung cancer, most patients do not have any symptoms. For these patients, there is no question of treating discomfort and relieving symptoms. On the contrary, the damage to the organism during treatment can cause discomfort instead, and the purpose of treatment for this part of patients is to be able to hope to prolong survival and slow down the onset of disease. Because they are asymptomatic, relatively speaking, they suffer the most, and as compensation, this group of patients has the highest expectation for treatment and the best treatment effect indeed. For mid-stage lung cancer, many patients already have symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest tightness, hemoptysis, chest pain, etc. The quality of life of these patients is somewhat affected, and their treatment has a clearer purpose, to improve their symptoms and prolong their life. Initial treatment can mostly improve the symptoms, which plays a great role in establishing patients’ confidence, and patients’ treatment attitude is relatively positive. For advanced lung cancer, some patients have serious symptoms, severe chest tightness, dizziness, liver distension and bone pain. For these patients, with rational thinking, symptom control and pain relief should be the most urgent need. The importance of quality of life improvement far outweighs the mere prolongation of survival time. How to choose, and who to choose, are practical issues. Many families say that we do not know medicine and hope that doctors will choose for them; many families say that they are afraid that if they tell the patient, the patient will not accept it, so the family will choose for them. Families have good intentions and always want to take over the responsibility, and always want to choose the best and perfect treatment for them. The perfection does not exist: surgery requires a sharp knife to cut open the patient’s body and remove some of the organs; radiotherapy requires high-energy rays to penetrate the entire body and kill the cells and tissues in the focus area; chemotherapy after chemotherapy slowly wears away the patient’s reserve functions like a millstone, and repeated discomfort and vomiting are enough to transform the disease from physical to psychological. And all of this requires the patient to support himself independently. And why should we bear all these adverse consequences? We want to cure the disease, but why do we have to be so aggressive in the face of a disease that cannot be cured? To actively go about doing further torture to the patient in the name of healing? On the other hand, should we not treat, operate, or treat the patient without chemotherapy and let the tumor rampage in the patient’s body? No method is perfect all the time, just like there is no perfect life, no perfect world. There are heroes in our world, and there are bears in our world. How many family members have learned from the experience of cancer stars to develop long-term treatment plans for their loved ones? How many family members have reasoned and persuaded their patients to keep going for a bit to receive the next cycle of chemotherapy? How many family members still hide their condition from the patient, hoping that he will live in ignorant bliss? Life is but a matter of life and death. We cannot decide our own birth, can we decide our own death? For patients whose future time is very limited, every time the family hides their condition they are annihilating the patient’s hope. Patients should understand their own situation and more importantly, the current status of the above mentioned treatment. Patients should decide whether or not to receive treatment, or which treatment they choose to undergo, based on their condition. Should patients be allowed to spend their days in the ward with doctors, nurses and patients in bottles and jars, or at home with family and friends in peace and quiet? We allow low profile people in life, can we accept low profile people in oncology treatment? Especially, our loved ones. Treatment choice is like life choice. There is only one chance, no best and no better; before the choice, we do not know what the result will be, and after the choice, we can only face the unknown result and reach the known conclusion. Perhaps, the focus is not on the results, but in the process. Life is like going on a trip, what you care about is not the destination, but the scenery along the way and the mood of watching the scenery. Treatment, also like life, different life, different treatment, a variety of choices, a variety of wonderful.