Md Anderson
Anyone been treated at MD Anderson? Can you pls provide reviews and insight? Been reading online opinions and they are being trashed constantly. Yet they are supposed to be the preeminent cancer hospital. What gives?
im thinking of transferring my care there and have just started the paperwork for initial consultations
many thanks in advance for your insight.
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Bong - needless to say there are lots of people who go to MD Anderson since they are an NCI hospital. Go the the search option on the left & look for them.
I personally chose to go to another hospital in the Houston Medical Center because I felt there was more personalized care. MD Anderson is a clinic - so you wait for things. I asked my surgeon why I would choose any other hospital besides MDA when I lived here. Her answer was if you have a "routine, every day cancer" there's no need to go to MDA. However she had done a fellowship there and flat out told me if she saw anything odd, she'd refer me over there in a heartbeat.
You may get in an assembly line at MDA, but you can be assured that the process & the docs are top notch and they have the latest possible treatment knowledge.
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Bong--are you asking about MD Anderson in Houston or another location? I'm a patient at the Houston location and I have been very pleased with my care and treatment. Things during the covid mess have been difficult at ALL hospitals and medical facilities, so please consider that. I have been a patient for just over a year and was never put off or made to wait for any treatment, and my team of doctors are top notch. I have no regrets about choosing MDA and highly recommend them.
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Oh- and BTW - I did do my radiation at MD Anderson Katy with the blessing of my MO & surgeons. It was much closer to my house. I had a wonderful experience there.
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I traveled the country when I was diagnosed as I had at least 17 nodes positive...nodes bursting out with cancer and all kinds of bad things.....from Miami to Memorial Sloan K in NY to MD Anderson Houston to a group in Arlington, TX....and a lot in between.
In the end I decided to go with Arlington, Tx as they were all Head of their Departments at MD Anderson but formed a group in Arlington to have more flexibility in patient treatment. I had a beast of a cancer and I wanted an aggressive doctor/treatment.
At MD Anderson I felt I was being pushed into a particular trial. When it came to my radiation however my doctor sent me to MD Anderson as he says no one does radiation better than them.
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hi all - thanks for the replies. You guys are all an inspiration to me. I have stage 3c plus one extra unconfirmed node just outside the superclavical andthat makes me Oligo so although I just finished dose dense ACT chemo NAT, I could use a second opinion from MD.
YATCOMW - can I ask the name of the Arlington group?
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Hi Bong, I started my treatment at MD Anderson when I was first diagnosed. They were great, although a 5 hour drive from my home. After they ran all the tests and identified what stage I was, they told me to get my affairs in order and the plan was to do hormone therapy alone. I got a second opinion at Texas Oncology in Denton, and they immediately let me know that my stage IV was not an immediate death sentence and got me on a clinical trial. I personally wound up transferring my care to Texas Onc because they had a more positive approach, and I haven't regretted it.
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I went to MD Anderson first after being diagnosed from a place that screens, does diagnostic mammograms, ultrasounds and biopsies only. I didn't like MD Anderson, many people do though. I ended up going somewhere else, they take took long. I felt my surgery should be done within 30 days of going there, it was not after 100s of images of my breast, they re-did the biopsy, came back the same. I feel it was a waste of time and money. My scans came back with no spread, they wanted me to do all this stuff that isn't necessary to treat me instead of surgery now when it is surgically possible to do a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy. I went there, because they are the best. But, they wanted me to have way more invasive surgery than I needed, it was unbelievable and to me personally a nightmare. When I said, I did not want to go that route, they were like breast conserving surgery is being considered and said well we didn't say we wouldn't do it, but they keep wasting time, wanting more and more test. I guess, it may depend on who get, but I will NEVER step foot in that place again. I have a per-op appointment on Jan 23, 2024 with a surgeon that will NOT recommend more invasive surgery that I do NOT need.
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The lady above is right Texas Onc, is more positive. I am going with them, because the Surgeon I am using recommended them. Here I am with an early stage breast cancer diagnosis that hasn't spread and MD Anderson was recommended stuff I just will NOT do and they dont' normally do at my stage.
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@slguillor, we're so sorry you had that negative experience at MD Anderson. Indeed, most people have good experiences, but everyone has such individual situations. We're glad you joined us here and thank you for chiming in here!
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I went the smaller route. My surgeries and treatments were with Florida Cancer Specialists at Advent Health. Advent Health is listed high on the national list of quality hospitals for cancer. My MO was very aggressive with my treatment, and so far it's paid off.
I follow a young woman (38 y.o) on tik tock that has stage IV. She went to Dana Farber and claims that it was too big of a hospital and she was just a number. She had 4 tumors and they just tested one of them that they thought was the largest tumor for HER2. It wasn't, and she ended up a year and half later with bone mets because she didn't get treated for an HER2 tumor. You can get lost in the crowd I think at those large organizations.
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Hi Bong,
I started cancer treatment at my local facility. I switched to MD Anderson a bit after. For me, it was the best cancer decision that I made. I have had outstanding care at MD Anderson. The doctors and team members have been wonderful. Their knowledge, expertise, and patient compassion was top-notch in my experience. My only regret is that I didn’t start at MD Anderson at the very beginning of my “life with cancer.”
I wish you a successful treatment plan whichever place you choose is best for you.
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I'm pretty sure Bong has already made her decision since this thread is from two years ago. ☺️
@wondering44 — I totally agree with you. I feel blessed to live close to MDA and to have had all my treatments there. They saved my life.
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lw422,
I totally missed that.
Lol, thank you. 😁🙏
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Wondering44—no problem. I was going to respond to Bong and I noticed I already had on page 1. Haha!! Hope all is well with you.
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