new and looking for oncologist recommendation in southern california/orange county

musicgurl
musicgurl Member Posts: 2
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
hello,

i have been reading this board for a few days and really appreciate all the great info and support.

i was recently diagnosed with rectal cancer. i was told that i will need chemo and radiation.

can anyone recommend an oncologist in southen california/orange county?

Comments

  • serrana
    serrana Member Posts: 163 Member
    #2
    orange county oncologist
    I recommend you go to the NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCI in Orange
    See Michael Stamos, MD the most famous rectal surgeon in the area and he will send you to a good onc there. The other option would be to go see Heinz Josef Lenz, MD at USC Norris NCI Comp Cancer Center. I have been treated by both these guys and consider them the top of the line.
    Best prayers to you.....
    Serrana
  • AllieC
    AllieC Member Posts: 17
    #3
    serrana said:

    orange county oncologist
    I recommend you go to the NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCI in Orange
    See Michael Stamos, MD the most famous rectal surgeon in the area and he will send you to a good onc there. The other option would be to go see Heinz Josef Lenz, MD at USC Norris NCI Comp Cancer Center. I have been treated by both these guys and consider them the top of the line.
    Best prayers to you.....
    Serrana

    oc
    i am interested as well.
  • sfmarie
    sfmarie Member Posts: 602
    #4
    AllieC said:

    oc
    i am interested as well.

    The OC
    I second the Dr. Lenz at USC. I would also check out UCSD, they do the HIPEC and are quite renowned. Stay away from UCLA, we had a horrible experience there.
  • robinvan
    robinvan Member Posts: 1,012
    #5
    Welcome...
    I can't help for Southern California, but am happy to welcome you here.(If that sounds OK?? NOT happy you have cancer of course!) I'm sure there will some more suggestions for you shortly.

    Good luck as you begin with the early stages of this journey.

    Rob; in Vancouver
  • musicgurl
    musicgurl Member Posts: 2
    #6
    serrana said:

    orange county oncologist
    I recommend you go to the NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCI in Orange
    See Michael Stamos, MD the most famous rectal surgeon in the area and he will send you to a good onc there. The other option would be to go see Heinz Josef Lenz, MD at USC Norris NCI Comp Cancer Center. I have been treated by both these guys and consider them the top of the line.
    Best prayers to you.....
    Serrana

    thanks
    Serrana,

    I have been thinking about checking out UCI. USC is a distance from me. I have heard and read amazing, incredible things about Dr. Stamos and will definitely consider him when I need a surgeon. I need an oncologist at this point, though, and would love to see someone at UCI as well. Any suggestions?

    Sfmarie,

    Thanks for the UCSD rec. I will check it out as well. What happened at UCLA?

    Rob,

    Thanks for the warm welcome. I want all of us to be NED forever!!!
  • serrana
    serrana Member Posts: 163 Member
    #7
    musicgurl said:

    thanks
    Serrana,

    I have been thinking about checking out UCI. USC is a distance from me. I have heard and read amazing, incredible things about Dr. Stamos and will definitely consider him when I need a surgeon. I need an oncologist at this point, though, and would love to see someone at UCI as well. Any suggestions?

    Sfmarie,

    Thanks for the UCSD rec. I will check it out as well. What happened at UCLA?

    Rob,

    Thanks for the warm welcome. I want all of us to be NED forever!!!

    UCI cancer center
    If you have been diagnosed w/ colorectal cancer you need to see a team...a surgeon, an oncologist and a radiation oncologist. They will confer and decide together on a treatment plan depending on what each one thinks they can do for you.

    Remember an oncologist is a scientist who specializes in chemotherapy. You will need a "captain of the team" and I really preferred it to be Dr Stamos. It is important to have these folks in the same center otherwise sharing med records is a nightmare.
    Dr. Stamos specializes in rectal cancer and is my surgeon; he saved my rectum after another doc had told me to go get a colostomy. I had Dr. Holcomb at UCI as my onc and Dr Ramsignadi ( sp?) as my radiation oncologist. They all worked together on the treatment plan. Stamos was the captain of the team. ( Dr Holcomb was the chair of the onc dept but I couldn't connect with his sad personality so Dr Stamos referred me to Dr Lenz at USC for my chemo.

    That was two years ago. Now UCI has other oncs that I don't know because I am live in San Diego and so I see an onc at UCSD
    Dr Stamos is still my beloved surgeon and watches over me. If you want to PM me we can "talk" further.
    Good that you are being careful about who you see
    Serrana
  • sfmarie
    sfmarie Member Posts: 602
    #8
    musicgurl said:

    thanks
    Serrana,

    I have been thinking about checking out UCI. USC is a distance from me. I have heard and read amazing, incredible things about Dr. Stamos and will definitely consider him when I need a surgeon. I need an oncologist at this point, though, and would love to see someone at UCI as well. Any suggestions?

    Sfmarie,

    Thanks for the UCSD rec. I will check it out as well. What happened at UCLA?

    Rob,

    Thanks for the warm welcome. I want all of us to be NED forever!!!

    UCLA
    The doc there told us there was nothing he could do. WRONG ANSWER.
  • usakat
    usakat Member Posts: 610 Member
    #9
    Hoag Cancer Center
    Check out Hoag Cancer Center in Newport Beach. I received excellent care and their doctors are top notch. My surgeon is brilliant - Dr. Colleen Coleman.

    Check out this link:
    HOAG CANCER CENTER
  • GetBusyLivin
    GetBusyLivin Member Posts: 25
    #10
    serrana said:

    UCI cancer center
    If you have been diagnosed w/ colorectal cancer you need to see a team...a surgeon, an oncologist and a radiation oncologist. They will confer and decide together on a treatment plan depending on what each one thinks they can do for you.

    Remember an oncologist is a scientist who specializes in chemotherapy. You will need a "captain of the team" and I really preferred it to be Dr Stamos. It is important to have these folks in the same center otherwise sharing med records is a nightmare.
    Dr. Stamos specializes in rectal cancer and is my surgeon; he saved my rectum after another doc had told me to go get a colostomy. I had Dr. Holcomb at UCI as my onc and Dr Ramsignadi ( sp?) as my radiation oncologist. They all worked together on the treatment plan. Stamos was the captain of the team. ( Dr Holcomb was the chair of the onc dept but I couldn't connect with his sad personality so Dr Stamos referred me to Dr Lenz at USC for my chemo.

    That was two years ago. Now UCI has other oncs that I don't know because I am live in San Diego and so I see an onc at UCSD
    Dr Stamos is still my beloved surgeon and watches over me. If you want to PM me we can "talk" further.
    Good that you are being careful about who you see
    Serrana

    Serrana, thanks
    This is really good advice, and gives me a lot to think about since right now we only have an oncologist and he won't even discuss surgery options. Are you happy with UCSD? Is your whole "team" located there?

    -AJ
  • serrana
    serrana Member Posts: 163 Member
    #11
    GetBusyLivin said:

    Serrana, thanks
    This is really good advice, and gives me a lot to think about since right now we only have an oncologist and he won't even discuss surgery options. Are you happy with UCSD? Is your whole "team" located there?

    -AJ

    orange county docs
    I wonder what your doctor wants you to do if he hasn't recommended a surgical consult? Have you had CT and PET scans? What has been told to you so far???????

    My experiences with UCI and USC have been fabulous, caring, organized, the latest treatment literature, doing research themselves and teaching med students.

    I did consider Hoag Hospital and was told by the secretary of the chief of onc to "go get surgery " and then come in for an appointment. Well, no, that is not how it is done.Hoag is not a National Cancer Institute Cancer Center but the hospital has a good reputation since it is a private hospital. Personally in OC I would go to UCI

    My experience with UCSD has been spotty, the NCI cancer center ( Moores) is a research, teaching and treatment facility that is only a few years old and has IMO organizational problems. The docs are excellent but when they won't answer the phone for 1/2 hr wait or return calls in less than a week or ever at all, it is stressful. The attention to detail in radiology reports is poor. I wouldn't be going to UCSD if I lived closer to UCI or USC. It is just too hard to do that drive on a regular basis.

    I hope this helps. I recommend "interviewing" doctors to see what "feels" right to you.
    I interviewed three oncologists after my surgery and knew right away who was the right one. ( Lenz)

    Serrana
  • GetBusyLivin
    GetBusyLivin Member Posts: 25
    #12
    serrana said:

    orange county docs
    I wonder what your doctor wants you to do if he hasn't recommended a surgical consult? Have you had CT and PET scans? What has been told to you so far???????

    My experiences with UCI and USC have been fabulous, caring, organized, the latest treatment literature, doing research themselves and teaching med students.

    I did consider Hoag Hospital and was told by the secretary of the chief of onc to "go get surgery " and then come in for an appointment. Well, no, that is not how it is done.Hoag is not a National Cancer Institute Cancer Center but the hospital has a good reputation since it is a private hospital. Personally in OC I would go to UCI

    My experience with UCSD has been spotty, the NCI cancer center ( Moores) is a research, teaching and treatment facility that is only a few years old and has IMO organizational problems. The docs are excellent but when they won't answer the phone for 1/2 hr wait or return calls in less than a week or ever at all, it is stressful. The attention to detail in radiology reports is poor. I wouldn't be going to UCSD if I lived closer to UCI or USC. It is just too hard to do that drive on a regular basis.

    I hope this helps. I recommend "interviewing" doctors to see what "feels" right to you.
    I interviewed three oncologists after my surgery and knew right away who was the right one. ( Lenz)

    Serrana

    Serrana,
    Our doc has said from the start that Richard is not a liver surgery or radiation candidate. He's had two PET scans. The first one showed his liver "riddled" with multiple lesions and he also has several lymph nodes involved. His second PET showed a remarkable decrease in size and number of tumors, but doc says he's still not a surgery candidate since the tumors are throughout his liver and "you can't remove the whole liver."

    Thanks for your input about UCSD and UCI. We saw Dr. Lenz for a second opinion and were also very impressed with USC Norris. Dr. Lenz himself is pretty intimidating, but I know he's at the top of his field. We ended up with our doc mostly for convenience, since he proposed the same course of treatment as Dr. Lenz and is much closer to home. (We're somewhat east of LA). We may end up going back to USC and Lenz at some point, though.

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