is it true, that if a person has cancer, lets say in my mothers case, lung cancer. that if she was to have surgery, be opened up, does the cancer spread quickly, or at all...??? All my life, I thought that if cancer was exposed, it spread. Is this medical myth or fact...? My mom was diagnosed with lung cancer and they said surgery would be best. That is was samll and contained in just one small area. I think it was the "wedge" sugery,. Small remover of the cancerous tunor on the lung, possilbe no further treatment needed. During surgery, Dr. saw that it was ALL over her chest cavity. They say she fell in the low 10% that was undetected by the CAT and PET scans. The biopsy at surgery was NSCLC. We went immedialey, for radiation to shrink the large tumor, to relive pain, then chemo, but they released her at the end of radiation with hospice given her "weeks" to live. her surgery was Jan. 7, 2007 (6- 1/2 weeks ago!!), She walked in a healthy 67 year old woman, and got wheeled out with all this mess, and now is very weak, on oxygen all the time, struggles with eating, controlling her bowels, and given a death sentence. How does this happen...?