Cancer: Selecting the Right Oncologist, A Personal View
By Michele Blandino
Two summers ago, our family was dealt a devastating blow when my father was diagnosed with cancer. Up to this point, he had been extraordinarily healthy, in fact, with the exception of surgery to repair a ruptured hernia twenty years ago, I couldn’t recall a time when he had missed work due to illness. Yet here he was, sixty-nine years old and scared to death that he wouldn’t live to see his seventieth birthday.
My father’s cancer is officially referred to as Oral Cancer because, thanks to years of cigar chewing, it originated in his mouth. However, as most oral cancers are prone to do, my father’s cancer spread, in his case, to his chest. This double-whammy cast serious doubts on our belief that he would somehow avoid becoming another victim of this horrific disease.
Our worst fears seemed to be confirmed a few weeks after his diagnosis when the oncologist we had selected to treat my dad grimly told us that he has a “bad” cancer – which caused me to wonder if there was actually a “good” type of cancer – and that my father would be lucky to live another year. He advised us to consider enrolling my father in a clinical trial because it was his opinion that conventional treatment may only be effective for a few months and that eventually the cancer would kill him, if a heart attack didn’t do the job first. We were devastated, but nonetheless had the presence of mind to thank the doctor for his time before taking my dad’s records and leaving. See, even though we knew that this doctor might indeed be right, we were disappointed at his reluctance to offer us any hope at all. And in the end, all we really had was hope.
Our instincts proved to be correct. The second oncologist we visited was upfront in telling us that he seriously doubted that my father would still be alive in ten years, yet he believed that he could effectively treat my father and give him several more good years. He told us stories of other patients whom he had treated for similar cancers over the years with good results. In short, he gave us hope.When it comes to selecting an oncologist, there are two very important things to consider. First, does the doctor make a concerted effort to remain abreast of all of the latest innovations and treatments? And second, does your doctor give you hope? Almost any cancer patient will tell you that hope for remission or even recovery is the only thing that enables them to endure the seemingly endless cycles of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Hope is what helps them to try to maintain some semblance of normalcy while living a life that is anything but normal. Hope is what keeps them alive.
I am happy to say that it has been nearly a year and a half since our lives were changed by my dad’s diagnosis and he is still going strong. He celebrated his seventieth birthday last spring with family and friends and loved every minute of it. And, most important, he still has hope. Hope that he will continue to prove the first doctor wrong and hope that he might even be able to prove his current doctor wrong by still being here ten years from now.
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