It's important to evaluate all your options when you're battling cancer. However, if your doctor is aware, you should feel free to explore the many alternative therapies that can be used to enhance your cancer treatments or relieve your side effects.

Western medicine interventions on cancer take three general forms: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. In this article, the first of four about cancer and Traditional Chinese Medicine, I will be discussing the challenges of surgery.

Paul Kraus is a mesothelioma survivor and the author of Surviving Mesothelioma and Other Cancers.