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My History of Melanoma & Currently Very Sick
Cancer | Last Active: Feb 17 9:25am | Replies (20)Comment receiving replies
@notdefinedbyyou, You were burdened with this diagnosis at such a young age, it's no wonder it has taken a toll on you physically and emotionally. It's hard when you feel that you can't trust your own body and health, and you feel that your body betrayed you.
It's easy to get wrapped up in the 'what-if' and reacting to each new pain. I've learned to give myself time and to feel these things, but my strategy has been if a tolerable pain doesn't go away or worsens within 5 or more days, only then will let those thoughts come into my head. Then I'll reach out to my care team for input. In the meantime, I try to focus on a simple word, Forward. I had to stop looking back at the negative experiences and start looking forward instead.
Do you have a provider or doctor that you feel listens to your concerns? Are you able to voice these concerns with someone of your care team? A referral to a dietician may be helpful, can you ask about that?
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thank you so much for your kind words and for explaining your thought process on how you handle things like this, i really appreciate it. I have a GI specialist. I’ve been on Vancomycin for about 5 days now and my symptoms only seem to be getting worse in my opinion. The GI doctor isn’t very nice in my opinion. She rushes me, talks over me, she has asked me multiple times in a condescending way if i can even afford the colonoscopy/endoscopy that i’ll be getting on February 7th, and when i started to cry in her office while talking with her because she was rushing me so bad.. she rudely asked why i was getting so emotional and brought up my mental health even though i was there for all of my physical symptoms and personally i think i kind of have a right to be a little upset with how sick i am and with the medical history that i have..ya know? (and i’d like to add that i was never once rude to her and i still haven’t been because i have a problem with being a people pleaser, especially with doctors who have a lot of control over what happens to me and my health). Her office and staff aren’t really any better except for one very nice clinician that i have a lot of respect for. I did request an appointment online with Mayo this past sunday though and i heard back from them yesterday! I have a telehealth appointment with a Mayo nurse on Feb 9th and a telehealth appointment with a Mayo doctor on Feb 12th to determine whether or not i need to go to Mayo to be seen. I really hope that they’ll help me more than the GI specialist i currently have because the doctor i have really seems to not care and i feel as though she minimizes everything i’m going through even with all of the horrible symptoms i’m having. fingers crossed!