RS - getting vague answers is quite common in this field. Doctors deal with all types of patients, from the ones who ask no questions and don't want to know ANYTHING about their cancer all the way up to those who want to know EVERYTHING (and don't spare any of the details along the way).

When you ask your first questions they don't know where you are in the spectrum, so they usually give a shorter (in your case vague) answer. If that satisfies the patient, they're done. If you are more of the want to know everything persuasion, then it sounds vague and curt.

When that happened to me, I just told the doctor I needed more detail as I wasn't satisfied with the answer. I had decided that doing that was just part of advocating for myself, something I learned here on the forum. Without even missing a beat the doctor restated his answer in more detail and that satisfied me. More importantly, every question after that got the more detailed form of the answer.

Later, my doctor said that they actually like the patients who advocate for themselves, they are better patients that better understand the process and treatment and usually get better results than those who are mentally uninvolved in the process.