Follow-Up With the Oncologist

6/25/13

 

Well, this wasn't a very interesting appointment.  I showed up with my mom on time for my 3:30 pm appointment, and they told me my appointment was actually missed earlier that day at 11:30 am.  I wasn't really bummed or put out at all since this was just to follow up with the surgery and pathology report.  They did ask me to wait to see if the doctor was able to squeeze me in.  It turns out they were able to see me and quite quickly at that.

The assistant took me to the room, got my vital, allergies, and weight.  I then waited a few minutes for the doctor to come in.  It only took a few minutes for the wait thankfully.

My oncologist got to the point immediately.  She was curious to know if my surgeon had gone over my pathology report from the surgery.  I assured her that he had gone over it thoroughly including the conventional treatment that they would like to do on me.

She asked me if I understood the decisions I was making about my treatment then.  I told her I did. I told her I understood what the surgeon had said about the chemo.  He had warned me that the longer I did this  nutritional treatment the less likely the conventional treatment would work at all because I was just giving the cancer more time to spread and metastasize.  I told him I understood what he was saying at that time, and I told the oncologist the same at this visit.

She felt this was the perfect opening to go over some conventional treatment options.  Because of her conventional training, she felt like it was a responsibility to go over this information.  I had no objections.  I was curious after all to learn.

She did mention that I could take Herceptin if I wanted to without the chemotherapy that was so toxic.  This is not what I had understood from her at the last meeting we had together.  I had asked specifically about Herceptin because it wasn't as toxic.  No matter.  I didn't really want to take it at all.  She also casually mentioned a couple other drugs that were related to Herceptin and used for my type of treatment.  I listened  and accepted some information on them.  It never hurts to have information.  The other drugs mentioned were Kadcyla or TDMI and Tykerb. 

I then informed her that I would like to keep an eye on the cancer.  I wanted to know that the cancer was gone.  I also mentioned that the surgeon recommended a CT scan every 4 months to do just that.  I was hoping I could get away with an MRI so there would not be any extra exposure to radiation with a CT or PET scan, but the oncologist did not recommend this.  She said it was better to get a CT scan, and I could have an MRI of the head if I showed signs of metastasis to the brain.

She then went on to ask what I would do if I had the scan and it showed that the cancer had grown instead of disappearing.  I told her that I believed with all my heart that the cancer was already gone.  I don't plan on that being an option at all.  She then said she wanted to play the devil's advocate.  What would I do hypothetically?  I told her I would probably rethink things, but I'm pretty sure I would just stick to what I was doing.  The proof is out there that this works if you are open enough to find it and accept it.  This works!  So, I would have to figure out what I'm doing wrong with this treatment, and fix it.

She accepted this and was agreeable to the CT scan at the end of August.  She said to just call her if I wanted to have it scheduled.  She did mention that after this scan if there was no sign of the cancer that we should only continue the CT scans if I am having issues or other signs of the cancer returning.  Insurance wouldn't cover "just to see".  This made me feel better anyhow.  I prefer to limit my exposure, and I'm confident that things have resolved.

I thanked her for her time, and we left after that.  That was pretty much it.  Quick and easy and to the point.