Sister went to the radiologist

[Mary]

Well it seems as if another Doctor has written my sister off. The Radiologists appointment left a bad taste in my mouth even though we got what we wanted. My sister will do 12 whole brain radiation treatment and a procedure similar to gamma knife but they use archs (stereotypic refractive?? something or another) He said that the two procedures have the same effectiveness. Ofcourse, this was after I told him that he was not God and did not know what was in store for my sister. He said, "There is no need to treat her aggressively because if the cancer spread 1 place its spread 1000." and "I look at the statistics because I can't afford to be emotionally involved, I've been doing this for 20 years" Blah, Blah, Blah...

He will also reluctantly finish the radiation treatment on her lung. I understand that this is not his sister but my sister feels better now then she has in the last 5 months and is not ready to stop fighting. Neither one of us wants to here about pallative care. I asked him about RFA but he informed me that they only do that on the liver. Bolshevik! Dismayed over the whole crappy business. I think I'll just kidnap my sister and take her to the Mayo, MD anderson, Duke or somewhere with better care.

Sorry, I needed to vent,

P.S. He did have the humility to agree that he wasn't God

Keeping the Faith,

Mary

[Don Wood]

Mary, vent away! That is what this message board and these great people are for. It does get frustrating at times, and each patient needs an advocate to get them through. Blessings. Don

[gail]

Oh, kidnap her and leave!

I was in the midst of changing oncologists (from the breast cancer) when the lung nodule came up. My old onc called to see why I was changing. since I was already tired from the whole what-is-this-nodule-thing, I lied and told him I wanted all my doctors in the same hospital. (The new onc was associated w/ my surgeon). He asked how I was and I told him I did have a lung nodule. He took a deep sigh and said in his saddest voice, "Oh, I'm SO sorry!" And I thought, "NOw that's exactly why I'm leaving you"

Now the new onc-when I asked what we would do if the nodule was breast that had spread (I knew that would be the worst case), said in a very matter of fact voice, "Then we'll treat it"

There are doctors out there, and sometimes you don't even have to go that far.

Keep at her.