How do you manage the wide array of emotions like anger and disappointment patients may have when they first learn of an incurable relapse of an early stage cancer?

This is a really tough question and there is no easy or straight-forward answer.

When I consider situations like this, however, I try to follow these guidelines:

• I use initial diagnostic uncertainty to my advantage. A diagnosis of relapse is almost never made instantaneously (a suspicious lesion on CT still requires a biopsy, etc.). So, when I deliver the news that we are worried about something, I try to prepare the ground for delivering the more definitive news later on. I will try to deliver...