Friday, November 23, 2012

IMF SmackDown: USA vs. Italy!

I got this email from the International Myeloma Foundation the other day and it made me chuckle.
 
The email subject was: World experts debate treatment options!

 

 
 
No disrespect intended - I am sure it will be an excellent conversation/debate. Reason for the chuckle: To me, this picture slightly resembles some sort of advertisement for an international wrestling match, only featuring doctors in suits. Heh. 
 
It's pretty cool for me to have a doctor that is considered a world expert. I feel very lucky. Interestingly though, December 10 is biopsy/MRI day for me at DFCI and it's a good thing I didn't schedule my appointment with Dr. R that day because clearly he is going to be in Atlanta laying the smack down on treatment plans. :)

2 comments:

  1. Dear Elizabeth,
    When it comes to Myeloma treatment the Italian's are way behind. Dr. from Little Rock once referred to them at one of the conferences as , in effect, "data thieves" . Which is his way of saying politely the Italians have no real data themselves so they...... steal others.... UAMS, Mayo clinic, MD Anderson's etc....especially Little Rock their facility treats over 1,000 patients per year... including yours truly!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Keith!

      Interesting about the Italian researchers…I hadn’t heard that before. Honestly, I just thought the advertisement for the debate was funny. :)

      I’ve heard a lot of patients at UAMS really rave about their experience there. I’ve been happy at Dana-Farber with my doctor (featured on the poster, ha) so far. Not sure how many patients DFCI treats per year but I do know they have a number of “myeloma experts.” :)

      I am not on any treatment - I’m still in the waiting/researching period, so we’ll see what happens!

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