Our oncologist recommended chemo and then sx as he is prime candidate for great outcome of removal of tumor/cancer. My husband has decided not to have sx but proceed with chemo a pet scan and then chemo and radiation. I will support him of course, but it is very hard knowing there is a better option.
First chemo was last week, he is doing ok so far, just tired.
Thank you.

I'm on a similar path as your advisee. I'd like to add a further consideration to the decision: patient age. An informative Youtube presentation at a Thoracic Surgery symposium included a broad survey of survival length surgery and surgery-declined histories of EC patients with Stages 2 and 3 diagnoses, yielding a finding of an average 20 percent reduction of life expectancy for those opting against surgery. A patient at an advanced age might well determine that such a result would be less significant than the length of time for surgery, recovery and significant change in nutritional habits if surgical intervention is an option. I completely agree with your listed important considerations facing patients in these situations, but would simply add how age, whether relatively youthful or advanced, might be an important consideration as well. I'm in the latter age group and it's something I'm thinking hard about when I'll be discussing options with my medical team.