I found this book to be biased toward the worst experiences. I couldn't finish reading it because some of the letters were so depressing. I did read about 80%. My feeling is the author received more "worst experience" letters because she received a greater response from those is support groups. I personally believe that one belongs to a support group because they are in distress and need others in their situation to offer support.It didn't change my mind about surgery BUT it did help me to come up with questions for my doctor.