I'm so glad we have patient portals. I have two as my GP practices in one health system and my oncologist in another. They are different in the amount of information made available. Appointments are very helpful as well as the list of drugs and supplements I take. Test results I do look at so I am prepared with questions when talking to the doctor or nurse. One portal seems to be more closely monitored when I send a question through it. The same one also provides the doctor's notes which is very helpful when you may not remember everything that was discussed during that visit including things not said aloud. For example, an oncologist at the same facility I saw for 6 months during a clinical trial described my demeanor and noted I was "well groomed"). I guessed this was evidence of my mental state. In the other health system's portal I was once (I think accidentally) given access to a former oncologist's notes-he actually treated me during chemo but not currently. I had problems with prolonged incidents of my heart racing within an almost predictable period after every infusion. I was supposed to have Taxol for 12 weeks (after 4 rounds of A/C), but the racing heart scared me so much that I told my doctor I was quitting Taxol after 6 weeks. Voices were raised and he swore to me the chemo was not causing the issue. Not being a quitter I agreed to finish. No more incidents for 4 weeks, but it happened again the last two. An infusion nurse told me it was a side effect of one of the drugs, and my current oncologist told me it was the steroids in the infusion mix. The notes I "accidentally " saw diagnosed it as panic attacks which diagnosis was never disclosed to me. The doctor lied. And lied. I found a new oncologist. So, yes, I'm grateful for patient portals.