onc doctors bedside manner

Pam -

Re:
"this also was at 5:00 in morning after surgery,sill drugged."

Before you burn bridges......

I could tell you stories about what I thought I heard and saw
while still under the lingering influence of anesthetics and pain killers,
but you'd probably just laugh.

Wait awhile, let the drugs wear down... It took me a few months
(believe it or not), before I was straight enough to realize that
my neighbor was not one of the nurses that were trying to kill me,
and my wife was not part of the conspiracy. (but if it happens again,
I'm getting a divorce)

Now don't go feeling insulted, I didn't feel compelled to go
through the trouble to type this out just to be a pain in your
tail-pipe; I felt the need to let you know, that not everything you
see and hear while drugs are doing what they're doing to you,
is anything close to real.

That aside? I have had two friends die within a few weeks of the
other. Both had stage one colon cancer, and both were told about
a year or so later, that they were stage four and only had months
to live. One did chemo, radiation, etc, The other went to a local
herbalist who compounded "tinctures" and other substances for him.

Both made it known, that they couldn't understand how or why,
they got worse with stage one, and I was still healthy with
what I thought was a stage 3C (I found out recently I had been
a 4 all along).

I don't know "why", I only know that they both said prayers,
they both had great happy feelings, both had friends around
and in a friendly atmosphere. They both ate well; neither smoked,
and they only drank socially on occasions.

Me? None of the above (please pass the gravy and white sugar).

Cancer stinks. The damage from cancer isn't limited to the
cancer itself, but extends to all the irreversible damage to our
body from surgical procedures, radiation and chemotherapy.

Cancer changes our life, and no matter how much we tell our
friends and loved ones that we don't even think about it.. We do.

To go from stage two to stage four is nothing unusual; cancer
is funny that way. Single cancer cells, and/or small clusters of
cancer cells aren't easily detected. So getting a report of
"No Evidence of Disease" really means very little in the scheme
of things. It only means that nothing has been detected using the
procedures at hand.

The first step in the fight against cancer, is accepting the real
facts about cancer; ignoring the facts and statistics only lulls
one into complacency.

We can't afford to sit idle and do nothing, but we shouldn't
be in a rush to try things, either. Time should be spent weighing
all the options, and even all the alternatives. We don't want to
take medicines, alternatives, or get procedures, that will end
up leaving us in a permanent sorry state, even if it cures the cancer.

So take your time, and look into all the details of any medication
or alternative that you might be considering.....

And do not put so much weight into the "stage" of the cancer;
don't allow yourself to be lulled into idle complacency.

Be well,

John

I've had that when I wasn't drugged
Tho I do agree with John, that drugs may have re-created the event to some extent.

However, when I was going for consults to pick an onc for my very rare cancer (appendix), one of the MSK drs I met with (fortunately the second one; the first had been very encouraging) wouldn't reveiw my chart, asked me why I was taking meds that I had never taken in my life, and then turned to me and stated: "You have garden-variety Stage 4 colon cancer, median life expectancy 2 years. However, with your unusual presentation, I can probably get you 2-5." (Btw, no lymph node involvement.)

He then had the nerve to write in his report that "patient showed undue distress, even when given encouraging information" [about "getting" 3-5 years instead of 2, when 3 weeks earlier, I didn't even know I had cancer.]

He ignored everything I said in the consult, and didn't review the reports from my initial diagnosis; just spouted in his "infinite wisdom".

I chose the OTHER MSK dr, and at 4 years out, am doing great, with an excellent long-term prognosis.

Alice