After my biopsy in July yielded higher results than we expected (10-15% plasma cells), my appointments at Dana-Farber have consistented of me freaking out and asking my doctor 1298374 questions. It is interesting though... in all my progress notes I am described as having "excellent morale" - if he only knew what was going on in my mind! Thankfully, my doctor has been very kind, compassionate, and extremely reassuring...well...mostly reassuring!
Despite waiting hours and hours (and hours :)) to see him, my appointments are always worth the wait. I never feel rushed and my doctor patiently answers all my questions. I'm sure a lot of oncologists deal with emotional patients all the time; people in WAY worse situations than mine. It's so important for them to have caring and calming (!!!) personalities. At least, those are traits I like to see in my doctors.
At my last appointment, my doctor said he always supports second opinions. Someone my age with MGUS is pretty rare. In addition, decisions around family planning are not something most myeloma patients are regularly faced with since the majority are beyond childbearing years and/or have already established their families.
He said that he would consult with his "boys" at the Mayo Clinic (he then quickly added "and girls" - I guess in an attempt to not sound sexist! Maybe he should just stick with "collegues." :)) to see if they thought anything radically different about my case. He said that if they did, I might consider going there for a second opinion. He joked that my husband and I would probably be better off flying to Europe for a vacation - it would take less time to fly to Europe from Boston than to travel to Rochester - and Europe would probably be much more exciting! No offense to anyone living in Minnesota or that area, but from what I have heard there isn't much out there! However, I cannnot speak from experience and I'm sure it's very lovely. No hate mail please!
So... second opinion? Eh. Probably would be a good idea.
I'll take a trip to MN with you! Minneapolis isn't too far from there and I hear it's nice. But can we go soon before the weather gets too cold and there is 10 feet of snow on the ground?
ReplyDeleteWasn't there a time you were actually going to MOVE to MN??? Let's go - road trip! :)
DeleteSecond opinionshare helpful in a lot of ways... different individual viewing the information from a different history, might stimulate conversation in which something different is revealed, and of course, the experience of each consultant with MM is different and might bring some new ideas to the forefront. Nick Van Dyke on his blog talks about second opinions and the importance of making sure you have the best people on the task of saving your life.
ReplyDeleteI actually just came across Nick's blog and have started reading. He definitely has a lot of experts involved in his case which is awesome!
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