Is Oncology a depressing field/specialty??

I am I high school junior and i'm sure i want to be a doctor. I am interested in oncology (mainly pediatric) mostly and sort of interested in obstetrics and gynecology. But a friend told me that oncology is a really sad and morbid field and that I'll have to watch my patients die and it will be a very painful career. I really have an interest in cancer and cancer treatment, but is the career really that depressing??

I really appreciate all of your comments....it has given me a new enlightenment on the profession...God bless you all.

I guess it depends on how you look at it. It can be a great field.

My late husband had leukemia, and he had a wonderful oncologist/hematologist. The doctor was a very positive person, right up to the end. I visited him in his office a few times after my hubby died, and thanked him for all he did.

You can have the chance to make a difference in the lives of people who are facing what is probably the greatest challenge of their lives.

Go for it!

Oncology can be depressing although on the other hand it can be enlightening. You will meet some amazing people who handle their condition with dignity and strength. Nowadays cancer is not a death sentence. There are many wonderful survivors who you will have the opportunity to meet and treat. You will encounter death in almost all areas of medicine as it is a fact of life.
You are still young and should keep an open mind. When you get to medical school (assuming you graduate college, do well on the MCAT, get accepted to med school!) you will experience many areas of medicine and then you can get a better idea which one suits you most. Do a clinical elective in pediatric oncology and then you will see what it's like and if you can handle it.
Good luck and take it one step at a time!

My view is that if you chose oncology you will face many upsets....but just think about the huge highs you will have from any patients who beat the odds and survive. The world needs people like you.

Yeah, it is depressing. I am an oncology patient. Not pediatric, but I am going back to school to finish my psych degree. My goal has ALWAYS been to work with abused children. Depressing too.

But if you like children and thats what you want to do, it is an awesome choice. Children are some of the most knowledgable amazing people I know.

You will need psychological training, and I would suggest finding a psychologist of your own (I am a firm believe that EVERYONE needs a psychologist, actually). You need to realize that you cant save everyone, and death isnt always a bad thing. Sometimes it is actually the best thing and sometimes everyone is comfortable with it.

You need to learn to seperate your emotions from your duty as a doctor. There will inevitably be times where the parent refuses whatever x treatment you know is the best and may save the childs life because of some stupid myth they believe. You have to keep your emotions in check, follow the law, and in the case of a child do only what the legal gaurdian approves, even if theyre wishes are different than the patient. The most difficult thing you will see will be when a child wants to quit treatment and the parents wont let them. Or vice versa, the child wants to continue but the parents make them quit.

The next worst things are families who use a health sibling as a body farm for another sibling. It is rare, and when it does happen kept at a hush, but it does indeed happen.

You WILL need psychological training and your own psychologist. But the bad you see will make you try harder and appreciate the good things you see and do more. The bad things will make you keep to what you believe and being a good doc.

Urology or Radiology is better, because you get thanked and praised for cures. If the cancer comes back, or the treatment is unsuccessful, those failures get passed on to oncology where there is no praise or reward. There is nothing but the painful task of trying to extend the patients life for those few extra years.

I was only 53 when I met with my oncologist after a failed surgery, cancer recurrance, and failure of primary hormone treatment. He noticed in my records I had a young son. I was the only person in that waiting room that was that young. My oncologist noticed how I was in shape, energetic, and I offered him a lot of interesting conversation. He knew I would die young and it made him noticably sad. He said, I am very sorry this happened to you. I challenged him to keep me alive past 55 years old to collect my pension so I could will it to my son. He promised me that.

There are not too many people that can handle the emotional stress of dealing with this everyday. This is is especially sad when you meet young people looking very healthy, and watch them progress into advanced stages of cancer and die. Think about this before becoming an oncologist.