Did my doctor drop the ball?

LYaklin
LYaklin Member Posts: 16
I was diagnosed July 11, 2008 with stage 3A invasive ductal carcinoma with 16/19 nodes positive. I am triple negative and BRCA negative. I found the lump myself while showering.
In January of 2006, I sought the care of my primary care physician because I was experiencing a discharge. The doctor did an exam and found nothing, but sent me for a mammogram anyhow. He said perhaps I'd need a fine needle biopsy of the milk ducts. The mammogram came back fine, so pcp decided the discharge was just an aging thing. I was only 40 years old! End of chapter.
Two years later in 2008, I found the lump in my left breast. By then I had switched primary care doctors, so it was the new one who diagnosed me. I have since had bilateral mastectomies, 4 tx of adriamycin, 12 tx of taxol, 35 radiation tx with the initial diagnosis. Last fall a PET scan found the cancer was back, now in my bones. I have biweekly tx of carboplatin and gemzar, and monthly tx of zometa. So far it is working. My latest PET in February shows alll the hot spots now as cold.
Here's my question. Did my primary care doctor in 2006 drop the ball? I can't help but think he should have probed farther and done the needle biopsy then and to determine the cause of the discharge instead of dismissing it as aging when the mammogram looked ok. I keep thinking about a malpractice suit but my husband says it would be a waste of time because I didn't follow up in the next 2 years with yearly mammograms. So yes, I know I am ultimately to blame for this, but isn't the pcp responsible too?

Comments

  • disneyfan2008
    disneyfan2008 Member Posts: 6,583 Member
    sorry
    MY guess is it is up to the patient to get a 2nd opinion if they feel the need! I was going to with a situation I am going through now, but my gyn decided to make a call to a onocol/gyno for his opinion!

    I"LL check back in to see if you update...

    I HOPE all works out..

    Denise
  • LYaklin
    LYaklin Member Posts: 16

    sorry
    MY guess is it is up to the patient to get a 2nd opinion if they feel the need! I was going to with a situation I am going through now, but my gyn decided to make a call to a onocol/gyno for his opinion!

    I"LL check back in to see if you update...

    I HOPE all works out..

    Denise

    I trusted him
    I didn't seek a second opinion at the time because I trusted the doctor's educated opinion. I mean who am I to argue when I didn't spend years and years in medical school? Quite frankly, I was relieved and then everything else went to the wayside when my mom was diagnosed a few weeks later with ovarian cancer.
    Maybe it was denial because I wanted so badly to believe everything was fine? Honestly, it hadn't crossed my mind much since until I read a post on a board (not sure now if it was here or another breast cancer site) about someone else's first symptoms being a green discharge.
    For the record, I didn't change physician's because of this. I switched doctor's when he moved his practice to the other end of the county and I decided to stay close to home.

    This is probably a manifestation of earlier denial. I won't make that mistake again.
  • disneyfan2008
    disneyfan2008 Member Posts: 6,583 Member
    LYaklin said:

    I trusted him
    I didn't seek a second opinion at the time because I trusted the doctor's educated opinion. I mean who am I to argue when I didn't spend years and years in medical school? Quite frankly, I was relieved and then everything else went to the wayside when my mom was diagnosed a few weeks later with ovarian cancer.
    Maybe it was denial because I wanted so badly to believe everything was fine? Honestly, it hadn't crossed my mind much since until I read a post on a board (not sure now if it was here or another breast cancer site) about someone else's first symptoms being a green discharge.
    For the record, I didn't change physician's because of this. I switched doctor's when he moved his practice to the other end of the county and I decided to stay close to home.

    This is probably a manifestation of earlier denial. I won't make that mistake again.

    @Lyaklin
    I totally understand...many many years ago I told my gyno I felt pregnant (mind you I had one child already so knew what it felt like) HE TOLD ME IT was my imaginination and floresant lights were making me feel like that. HE DID CONFIRM I had a large overaian cyst!

    Shortened version-the night before surgery for cyst he called me and said YOU were right...YOU are pregnant. (TUBULAR) I had gone a long time and it could have been so serious! AS soon as I had my post surgery check up I changed to my gyno I have now for over 20 yrs.

    BUT THIS is before home preg. tests and I TRUSTED HIS word....I ran as fast as I could to new gyno. (HE ALSO told my hubby and mom I would never have another child and I had my 2nd daughter!

    Denise so now i know better...
  • Lighthouse_7
    Lighthouse_7 Member Posts: 1,566 Member

    @Lyaklin
    I totally understand...many many years ago I told my gyno I felt pregnant (mind you I had one child already so knew what it felt like) HE TOLD ME IT was my imaginination and floresant lights were making me feel like that. HE DID CONFIRM I had a large overaian cyst!

    Shortened version-the night before surgery for cyst he called me and said YOU were right...YOU are pregnant. (TUBULAR) I had gone a long time and it could have been so serious! AS soon as I had my post surgery check up I changed to my gyno I have now for over 20 yrs.

    BUT THIS is before home preg. tests and I TRUSTED HIS word....I ran as fast as I could to new gyno. (HE ALSO told my hubby and mom I would never have another child and I had my 2nd daughter!

    Denise so now i know better...

    All I can say is if I've
    All I can say is if I've learned anything through this fight, it's that we have to question doctors and be our own best advocate when it comes to our bodies. I'm not being negative to the heath care profession, just think that they see sooo many patients that WE have to be firm if we think something isn't right.
    Good luck and God bless.
    Hugs,
    Wanda
  • CypressCynthia
    CypressCynthia Member Posts: 4,014 Member
    It is so hard to second
    It is so hard to second guess this stuff.... I will say this, if you have a lump and are not comfortable even if mammogram is ok, seek out another opinion. And if there is a breast surgeon in your area, I would seek him/her out. An MRI and/or ultrasound may have been helpful in your case.

    My mammogram was + for IDC and was correct. My oldest sister's mammogram came back negative for a very small lump. My breast surgeon (because of my history) did a biopsy on her lump even after the mammo was negative and it turns out that she had DCIS. My little sister felt a lump in her right breast and the mammogram came back + for cancer in the LEFT breast! The mammogram showed one spot and it turned out she had 3 areas of IDC. The right really was ok as she chose to have bilateral mastectomies.and they checked it out.

    The moral of the story is that there is not one super accurate test out there. The gold standard is the biopsy.
  • jamiegww
    jamiegww Member Posts: 384
    Bad case of "What Ifs".
    I think you will always have 'what ifs' and you just have to learn to live with them. I wonder 'what if' my cyst was investigated eight years before it became a lump; I wonder 'what if' I hadn't been so overweight; and I wonder 'what if' I had been better at taking supplements. If you think you will feel better, maybe you can speak to an attorney and see what they have to say but ultimately you can't turn back time and fix it so you just have to move forward. I'm glad you caught it before it was too late and I hope you can eventually accept that it is what it is.
  • Angie2U
    Angie2U Member Posts: 2,991

    All I can say is if I've
    All I can say is if I've learned anything through this fight, it's that we have to question doctors and be our own best advocate when it comes to our bodies. I'm not being negative to the heath care profession, just think that they see sooo many patients that WE have to be firm if we think something isn't right.
    Good luck and God bless.
    Hugs,
    Wanda

    I agree with Wanda, we have
    I agree with Wanda, we have to be our own advocate and if something in our head says "it isn't right", then it probably isn't. I am very sorry for all of this.


    I wish you the best of luck!


    Hugs, Angie
  • Kylez
    Kylez Member Posts: 3,761 Member

    It is so hard to second
    It is so hard to second guess this stuff.... I will say this, if you have a lump and are not comfortable even if mammogram is ok, seek out another opinion. And if there is a breast surgeon in your area, I would seek him/her out. An MRI and/or ultrasound may have been helpful in your case.

    My mammogram was + for IDC and was correct. My oldest sister's mammogram came back negative for a very small lump. My breast surgeon (because of my history) did a biopsy on her lump even after the mammo was negative and it turns out that she had DCIS. My little sister felt a lump in her right breast and the mammogram came back + for cancer in the LEFT breast! The mammogram showed one spot and it turned out she had 3 areas of IDC. The right really was ok as she chose to have bilateral mastectomies.and they checked it out.

    The moral of the story is that there is not one super accurate test out there. The gold standard is the biopsy.

    I probably would have
    I probably would have insisted on more testing, but, who knows. We trust our doctors, but there again, we have to trust our instincts too.


    I wish you well!


    Hugs, Kylez