Hello Korinja,
I switched oncologists—twice! And, yes, some people think I’m a finicky witch. Cancer is scary enough; we don’t need communication barriers to make it worse.
I saw my first doctor, Dr B, at diagnosis. He explained how ovarian cancer tends to unfold and what he thought was going on in my case.
He ordered an MRI. The next day, I called for the results. I left a message. (I wasn’t expecting a response that day. I called just in case the results were available.) I called the next day—nothing. And the next.
On the fifth day, I called another doc in the same group, Dr H. He was out of town, but his office contacted him, and he called me. He heard my concerns, said he would look into it, and got me the results. So, I switched to Dr H.
Dr B called me and apologized for not getting back to me. Apparently, he had never received any of my messages. He was quite angry with his staff about the lack of communication. But I wasn’t comfortable staying with him and switched my care to Dr H.
Who seemed great, at first.
Before surgery, my primary cancer burden was in my omentum. The rest was scattered throughout my abdomen, like sesame seeds. I had three cycles of chemo, then surgery. Dr H took out my tubes and ovaries, but nothing else, not even the omentum. When I asked why not, he said it looked really good after the chemo. This didn’t sit well with me. I went to Mayo for a second opinion.
Most second opinions concur with the original opinion. I knew this and just wanted reassurance that what Dr H did was OK.
Dr K, the Mayo doc, said, “The surgery you had was what I would have done for an 85-year-old.” (I was 61.) “I would have been far more aggressive with a woman your age.” And the real kicker: “This was not standard of care.”
After I picked my jaw up from the floor, she offered to do a much more thorough surgery, with HIPEC (intraabdominal chemo). I had it done. She removed my uterus, appendix, and most important, my omentum. And pathology found active cancer in my omentum.
I kept my next follow up appointment (I honestly don’t know why) with Dr H, who had received records from Mayo, so he knew what I had had done. The first thing he said to me was, “You could be cured!”
I was so shocked and flabbergasted, I didn’t know what to say. What I wished I had said was, “Then why didn’t YOU do all this?!?!”
Nevertheless, that was the last time I saw Dr H. I made Dr K my doctor from then on.
So, I recommend second opinions. And third opinions. And switching doctors when necessary!