Monday, March 15, 2010
Oncologist Appointment
When one of the world's leading oncologists specializing in breast cancer is located an hour away, of course you make an appointment. I spent an hour with Dr. John Link today and feel good about our discussion. Dr. Link wrote The Breast Cancer Survival Manual (which I've read cover to cover twice), and what he says is all that counts. He reviewed all of my tests and agreed that yes, there is extensive ductal carcinoma and that it does also look like it has become invasive. However, he thinks the invasive tumor is about 10 mm, so very tiny. He looked at my 2007 ultrasound and agreed that it did not show any cancer and that yes the next step should have been a mammogram, but since I don't own a working time machine I'll quit complaining... He said that most likely the cancer has been there 3-4 years. That made me feel better because recently I've been torturing myself with thoughts of nursing my children with cancer-filled milk. He assured me this was not the case. (I'm a good mom again!) He also reassured me that I don't have an increased chance of growing other types of cancer just because I have breast cancer now. (Yippee!) He suggested I have my surgery within the next 2-3 weeks. So, as soon as I get this insurance / medical group nightmare cleared up I'll be ready to go. There's also a cool new test I'm going to get called Mammaprint that tests the cancer cells and analyzes 70 genes. I think the most common test analyzes 29 genes. This means I'll have the best analysis available of my risk of recurrence and be able to completely customize my post-surgical treatment (if needed). I'm still praying for healthy lymph nodes and would love if you would too!
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You asked for prayers and you shall have them. Wish we could take away your pain. Hopefully in a couple weeks, this will all be behind you. Love you lots! AC
ReplyDeletePraying for you, Kristin. You have a right to be angry, anybody would be in your situation.
ReplyDeleteI've had plenty of experience with doctors -- I've probably been to more than 50 appointments in the past year -- and while they mean well, most just don't have the time (or in some cases expertise) to see the whole picture. You really have to appoint yourself as an advocate/interrogator and stop thinking of them as all-knowing.
Doctors also have a tendency to rely on their quick judgments without listening to what the patient is telling them. The same ego that got them through med school and residency can hinder their ability to truly listen to their patients and respect their observations.
I make it sound like they're incompetent, they're not. But sometimes I think they don't give adequate weight to the patient, and they don't have time to give you the long answer. So you get the short one that leaves out options they don't care about or don't care to discuss, because it will make them late to their next appointments.
Anyway, stand up for yourself and in the meantime I'll pray for you.
Prayers Continue!!!
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