Radiation recovery
Comments
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Joan...Don't forget the open bar @ Happy Hour, along with the rest...:)
Kate, I grew up right next door to Northbrook. Have sibs in neighboring burbs. Thinking of you...xo Lisa
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Kate, my brother is an attorney in LA...I asked hime for names and will pm you as well if he sends me anything. (He does mostly land use/real estate/etc.)
Woke up to a newscast that my dd's school is closed today due to a security threat. I asked her to go for a run with me but she climbed back into bed!
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Hi April,
ASo glad you were able to stay cozy in bed for a little while. Hugs, Kate
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In regard to doctors, my husband was in primary practice for 20 years. When we owned our clinic he was able to spend the amount of time he needed to with his patients. Practicing medicine was rewarding and we went home at night feeling like we had helped those in our small town with medical problems. Then came corporate medicine and changes in insurance reimbursement.
Another avenue of litigation in a case like this might be the cigarette industry. Smoking is the strongest contributing factor to bladder cancer. It is proven. The court in this case might assess blame in that direction as well. Cigarettes are purposely very addictive. That is the way the legal system works.
Suddenly we were squeezed out of business and he had to work on the treadmill of medicine as it is today. Each doctor has 10 minutes with each patient presenting with an acute problem or one complaint. They are forced to keep moving and to go through the numbers. Documentation time (thanks to Medicare and insurance) is 20 minutes for that 10 minute visit. That is why he got out of primary care and went into emergency medicine. There he has one shot to get it right with lots of tools to work with.
My own internist before my bc diagnosis was in and out of my exam room in minutes. He never did a breast exam or a pelvic exam. The woman
I see now is better, but after a few minutes I see her eyes glaze over and away she goes. Doctors trained today don't even have the expectation that they will really "know" their patients. If you call in and talk to a nurse know you are one of a dozen that day who needs attention and you will be dealt with after lunch or at the end of the day, with not much attention.
That is medicine today. It is alarming. People with real problems get lost in the shuffle with those who abuse the medical system seeking drugs or convenience care. I have found myself having to point my doctor directly to what I think might be going on, or my diagnosis would be missed. Ten minutes doesn't give a doctor time to assess and analyze, sadly. A doctor goes on the theory that the commonest things are most common. Blood in the urine is most often an infection. In other words when you hear hooves you look for horses and not zebras. A yearly physical will get you 30 minutes and with any luck, that and your lab work might light up a brewing problem.
This is not to defend Kate's doctor. A doctor today has to be hyper-vigilant and he clearly dropped the ball on this one. If things don't change somehow however, more and more doctors will burn out. We already have a shortage of doctors and it is going to get worse. A primary care physician is hardly capable of doing more than quickly assessing and treating or referring these days. In order to get good care you have to be willing to be a squeaky wheel. I am getting better at it myself.
Kate I hope your medical records point out your multiple attempts to get care for this and that your lawyer will do a good job for you.0 -
SAB. How hard is it to send a kid to school these days with all of these security threats?
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Hi Kate,
I hope you will have a wonderful time in Chicago. As far as the weather, you will enjoy the windy city no matter what even if it snows. It is so wonderful to see everyone in here is supporting you 100% percent. Have a great trip!
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GiGi, I really appreciate your perspective/experience with doctors. It is a reminder to all of us that we are our own best advocates. I actually write down everything I want to discuss with them, and they are generally patient while I march through my list of items.
Yes, the school stuff is scary and unexpected--we live in a sweet little community in the middle of nowhere!
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P.S. A lawyer taking a malpractice case should do it on a contingency basis. If you win, he gets paid. Do not pay fees up front. That way, he will only proceed if you have a good strong case.
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Dear Kate, I'm so sorry about the diagnosis you got. Thankfully, you have a treatment plan already worked out with your doctor who sounds very caring. You are in good hands.
You will kick cancer's butt!!!!
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GiGil - Thanks for that information about drs. I could feel it and it is sad. That is why I have so many specialists. I used to be able to get it all from one dr but not anymore. What really makes me crazy is that none of them report to the others. I spend all my time collecting records and taking them to everyone. Especially test results. I am one of the ones that gets lost. From the time I got my autoimmune disease till now. We really have to keep up with our own health.
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Wow, I must be blessed! My primary is an amazing woman. She spends lots of time with me and is very very thorough. She even asks me about my sex life! Not kidding. My yearly physical with her lasts a good hour and she does a complete workup. I am with the nurse for only about 15-20 mins while she does my weight, blood pressure, temp and ekg. Then my doctor comes in and does the rest. She is wonderful and I know that cause the doc I had before her was not even remotely interested in my questions. My PCP answers ALL of them and even offers suggestions on what to do. She even cleaned one of my ears cause of waxy build up I did not even know I had in there! She even does a quick eye exam and she yells at me when I tell her I skipped going to the eye doctor that year! I get full service from her and she even does a breast exam even though she knows my gyno does it too!
My gyno is also amazing. Totally thorough, always calls me back within an hour if I have questions and talked me down off the wall when I had my Birads 4 and the scheduled core biopsy! She spent a good 20 mins of the phone with me! When she got the results and my diagnosis, she called me at 7 at night to see how I was!
I guess I am very very blessed. All of my docs at Yale are also incredible and take a lot of time with me. I have a patient navigator (a nurse) who calls me back immediately and if it is out of her scope, she has the doc call me back. After my surgeries (both of them) for my lumpectomies, the surgeon called me both times to see how I was doing that evening. She called herself!
So, not all docs are bad (and I know your hubby was a good one Gigi) and I am so sorry he ended up having to close up shop and go into a big corporate medicine!
Kate, I just emailed you a highly recommended firm my daughter sent me after asking the partners in her firm for a referral. Hope they can help you if you decide to go with them and they take your case! Also, GiGi is right. A malpractice case should NEVER have any charges. It shold only be on contingency. Only shady firms ask you for any money at all. Do not pay anyone a dime!
Sab, so scary about your DD's school! YIKES...what a world we live in. I live in CT where Newtown happened. My aunt was a teacher in that same school for 30 years! She passed away a few years ago so she never knew about what happened and I am sure she would have been devastated! Newtown is a sleepy little affluent bedroom community. No one ever thought anything like that would happen. So sad!!
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Bunkie, Maybe somebody who is more politically up to date will know, but I believe that Affordable Healthcare Act originally had a provision about electronic records. Personally, I think they are long overdue. My group (Sutter) shares all test/result/exam notes electronically with eachother and boy it is a real blessing.
April, I think we all want your doctors! And I know what you mean about the navigator. I had one and she was my angel during all of that frenzied start-up time for treatment. I think it should be standard...my friend had bc and had to figure everything out for herself, often "bribing" the schedulers with goodies.
I know we are all still raw from Newton, and maybe my neighborhood school overreacted but I am very glad that they did. I took my girl to lunch instead, and shoe shopping and we passed the school on the way home...there was still a substantial police presence there. Deeply disturbing. I'm glad the weekend is here.
I hope you gals have some fun lined up! Hiking for me, that's all I'm sure of right now.
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April you really have a dream team. We have thought of opening a clinic that would not only offer Integrative therapies, but also tie those medical loose ends together for our patients. I had a navigator in name, but not in practice at a very prominent breast center! It looks pretty, but the substance is a bit lacking. As for the MO I used to see, before she retired, it was really disturbing to me to sit in a waiting room with 50+ cancer patients at a given time. It was depressing and felt like a cancer mill. I hated seeing it that way, but again, corporate medicine. My MO who retired was a stellar human being. She even helped find foster homes for her patients' dogs when they were too tied up with treatment to care for them. She was also very reassuring. I am now looking for a new MO.
SAB what a lovely day for you and your daughter. I'm sure it made her feel loved and protected. I pray this school violence is at an end. Our kids don't need this fear.0 -
SAB hiking sounds like heaven!
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April, sounds like a great team of doc's.
Kate enjoy Chicago you deserve it!!
MY neighborhood is getting terrible and both our kids schools were on lockdown yesterday.Then my youngest daughter tells me that the teenager that was walking past her dropped a gun when she walked past him while walking home from school.He then proceeded to finally go into the neighbors house across the street.Yeah I kind of freaked out needless to say she's not walking home anymore even if she is walking with a friend.The reason for the lockdown was a couple of gangs of kids were fighting after one gang tried to drive the others down and ended up driving the stolen car into a house.Did I mentioned I called the cops about the incident my daughter to lo d me about they just told me they were aware of the situation.REALLY?
Sorry just venting.I really wish we could move.0 -
I start my boosts on Monday.
Anybody want to let me know what to expect?
Is it worse for side effects?0 -
Oh Josie, that's terrible about your daughter's school. And the kids act like it's just normal, that's the worst part to me. Don't worry a bit about the boosts. For me it was just a slightly different pattern, didn't feel different, didn't seem to give more or less skin irritation. Good luck, you are almot there!!!!!!!
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Josie, my understanding is that it is the same amount of grays or milligrays or whatever those are, just concentrated directly to your lumpectomy site instead of the whole breast. Unless you have a lot of irritation directly there, it should not be any worse!
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Josie, my understanding is that it is the same amount of grays or milligrays or whatever those are, just concentrated directly to your lumpectomy site instead of the whole breast. Unless you have a lot of irritation directly there, it should not be any worse!
So sorry about your daughter's school and the gun. How scary! It doesn't matter where you live though. It is everywhere. The burbs, the rich areas and the poor ones.
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Thanks I don't think it will be any different hopefully.Yeah it is getting pretty ridiculous today trying to raise your kids in this crazy world.
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Hi April,
Thank you so much for talking to your dughter about my legal problem. I so much appreciate it. OMG you have your own issues, and take your time to help me. How nice is that. You are a doll. Hugs, Kate
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Hi Lisa,
What a coincidence I love Northbrook and the northern suburbs of Chicago Hugs, Kate
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Hi Sab,
Thank you so much. I so much appreciate it. Sorry about the school threat, but I am sure your daughter loved the day off. Hugs, Kate
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Hi Gigil,
I truly understand that cigatette smoking is a main cause of bladder cancer. Sure my cigarette smoking probably cause bladder cancer. That is not the issue whatsoever. The issue is stage o or stage 1 bladder cancerm versus stage 4 bladder cancer. Stage o or stage 1 bladder cancer is a breeze just like my stage 1 grade 1 breast cancer. Stage 4 bladder cancer is deadly. So my malpractice suit is about his incompetence when I complained about problems 18 months ago when it could have been caught at stage 1, and 4 months ago when I called him from a mall saying I couldn't urinate, and he still didn't order a test or recommend a urologist. He gave me an antibiotic, said it was a uti and I am fine. The same as he said you had a colonoscopy and your are fine, when I complained of stool shape changing, a blockage, and having trouble releasing a bowel movement. I now have to suffer with chemo and God knows what else when I noticed a problem 18 months ago, and trusted him. So I did nothing else about it. I'll suffer physically and he need to suffer financially big time. Hugs. Kate
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Hi new2bc,
Chicago is my hometown and all my family lives there. I love Chicago including the bad weather. I will have a great time, because i will be with family going to some of Chicago's great restaurants. It is so wonderful how all of my bc sisters on this site are supporting me, and it is so much helping me get through this. I feel the love. Thanks so much for your support`
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Hi Gigil,
Thanks for the info, but I know that attorneys take malpractice suits on contingeny. I have won a large malpractice suit. My husband had bronchitis. I tool him to the emergency room because he had a cough that sounded horrible. He had acute tracheal bronchitis and needed a tracheotomy (spel). The emergency room doctor sent us home with antibiotics and he died 12 hours later. If he had the tracheotomy he would be alive today. The doctor changed the hospital records. I won a large amount. I got 60% and my lawyer got 40%.
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Hi Lizfrom montreal,
I am going to have 4-6 months of chemo. Thank goodness this is the type of chemo where I won't lose my hair. I have to go for chemo once a week for 3 weeks with the 4th week off. Thanks so much for your support
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Hi April,
I am so glad that you get such good care. I did too except for my pcp. I have an excellent surgical oncologist, a excellent radiation oncologist, a wonderful breast reconstruction surgeon,, that I am friends with and go to happy hour with and the best MO anyone could ask for. Unfortunately I did not discuss this problem with my MO I only discussed it with my pcp. Thank you so very much for the recommendation. I will call the firm when I come back from chicago. Hugs, kate
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Josie, I had a different position for boost, I had more coloration from the boosts, but no skin damage beyond what little i had during rads.
I had just taken a course in radiation in society and so when I calculated the total rads dose over 7 weeks, it was shocking. Better not to think so much, I suppose. You are almost done and that is the best news.
SAB - mega-hiker! Glad you turned that school closing day into a positive. Sounds like a serendipitous treat.
Kate, thinking of you...always!
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Kate the only issue in regard to cigarettes is the fact that cigarettes have so many dangerous chemicals in them that cause cancer, not that you smoked them. I agree your cancer should have been caught at an earlier stage. Why didn't your doctor have you come back in for follow up after those prescriptions? My doctor insists. Also blood in the urine always prompts a cystoscopy. Your urinary symptoms were pretty dramatic. They should have prompted follow up and testing.
I really hate this happened to you, Kate. I am on your side here. I just know too much about the impact of malpractice on the human being that is the physician. I have worked with many of them as a clinic administrator/legal advisor. It won't be emotionally easy for your doctor once he hears about what you are dealing with. If it doesn't bother him, he shouldn't be in practice.
My point was partially because I am married to a man who devotes his life to medicine for all of the right reasons. I remember one morning when he came home from working the night shift in the ER. During his shift a mother dropped her son off at the ER with a pretty serious asthma attack. As the night progressed the boy grew progressively worse and his mother could not be reached. My husband stayed by that boys side all night adjusting and readjusting his care. They got him through the crisis and were quite relieved, until the mother arrived in the morning. Her first words to my husband were, "What did you do to him? He wasn't this bad when I dropped him off!"
The doctor who provided your care clearly missed the boat in your situation, for whatever reason. However angry we are at him, he is a human being with a family who cares about him. He might deserve to pay for not being vigilant about your care. But it is likely in his career he has done things right for many people. If he hasn't he wouldn't still be in practice. A malpractice suit is very painful to a physician. First of all another human being is suffering because somehow you have failed them, and that is not easy to take. Secondly it makes a doctor doubt his practice and maybe even his choice of medicine as a career. Third, his reputation is permanently marred and in some cases destroyed. It is nothing he will be able to shake off and forget, ever. Maybe he shouldn't.
What a tragic story about the death of your husband! You really do know about malpractice suits.0
