trt,

I had surgery and radiation, but no chemo. Almost as soon as I was diagnosed, my oral surgeon referred me to a MO, who was intended to be the "point person" managing all my tests and overseeing my treatment. I developed a great deal of confidence in him during the process, and he became my PCP (and he still is, 18 years later). He does my general physicals and coordinates any necessary referrals to other specialists. By now, he has a pretty massive file of my medical history since 1989, and it means a lot to me to have someone with such a complete understanding who is continuing to do follow-ups with me.

Cathy

trt,

Tylenol 3, Fetynal patches etc...every time I mentioned pain they gave me more. As I stated it took a lot of pain management for me to make it through. I learned from this board that it was my right and was prepared to fight but fortunately I didn't have to. Fight for your own comfort, by now you should be on the Fet patch and taking morphine for break through. The pain got worse for me the 2 weeks following treatment and then it slowly dissipated.

trt,

Evidently, from what I read above, it varies from place to place as to which doc manages the pain meds. Regardless, if it's the RO or MO, you have a right to the meds! My RO and his staff managed mine (I was also receiving concurrent chemo and had a MO)) and NEVER failed to ask me about pain levels. I'm sorry your care hasn't been as attentive to this point - but, please, make yourself heard. You need the meds - they're not a crutch but an essential weapon in the battle.

My MO and staff nurses always kept pushing pain meds on me during my Tx period at Emory here in Atlanta. They were so insistent that they almost convinced me that I needed all of it whether I had pain or not.

Based on my experience I can't imagine another facility having such an opposite view.

Bill D.

My MO and staff nurses always kept pushing pain meds on me during my Tx period at Emory here in Atlanta. They were so insistent that they almost convinced me that I needed all of it whether I had pain or not.

Based on my experience I can't imagine another facility having such an opposite view.

Bill D.

My big problem is not so much pain, but nausea, dizziness and that everyone feels that it's someone else who should help me.

RO says I don't need an MO and asks me to see the Surgeon.

Surgeon is not available so I see her PA who prescribes a coupla things (which don't work) and says that the RO could prescribe it also.

She does not know which MO would be appropriate so she'll send an email to the surgeon who will call the MO, whose office will call me to set up an appointment. While I feel I need to see someone now, their attitude is: there is no rush; he can suffer a few more weeks.

This stuff with email and calls from the office took months once in the past with a different referral. I still have not seen the doc for that referral.

I called a patient advocate and may call the social worker to see if they can facilitate communication.

trt,

I keep harping on this topic to no avail but it really helps if we ALL post our DX and TX, etc under our signature so that people that take the time to answer can do so with a more complete picture.

That said for the umteenth time, I thought I read that you weren't taking chemo? I'm not sure why they would refer you to a MO if chemo is not involved. I had concurrent chemorad and I had both my RO and my MO prescribing me meds for EVERYTHING and I complained often that there wasn't one appointed Meds person for me to go to so I would call about this problem and would be told "you have to see so and so for that" and the next time I would call so and so and would be told " oh, Dr Other so and so handles that". For probably many reasons, none of which will ever be known in my lifetime, none of the so and so's ever could get my nausea under control. I kept crying out " if you guys can just solve my nausea, I'll be quiet". I eventually gave up and stopped taking all meds; fought thru the pain and my nausea went away and that finally got me over that BIG hump.

Sorry to vent re the posting of the DX, Tx, etc but when you try and answer a lot of posts it's really time consuming if that info is not readily available BESIDES IT'S TAX SEASON AND I'M EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE TO BEGIN WITH.

David,

The point I was trying to make in my previous post to trt was that my MO's practice is definitely NOT limited to chemo patients, and that he long ago replaced my GP as my PCP. He has filled the role that you seem to be talking about -- the one person I can call when I have any medical need, and he will see that I get the right medication or the right referral.

Cathy

There's no logic to this - my PCP for cancer followups, currently, is a head and neck surgeon and I didn't have any surgery. However an MO, as Cathy stated, does more than just manage chemo. Mine ordered all of my tests, scans and managed all of my meds. He was my PCP until my blood chemistry numbers settled down (about a year).

"Oncology" by the way, simply means "The branch of medicine dealing with tumors".

MO's are quite knowledgeable about body chemistry in general and that is why they make for great PCP's for cancer patients (the entire treatment process is quite an assault on your body chemistry and immune system). They are usually on top of infection control, pain management techniques as well as nausea control.

Hi, trt, It's the "nurse from Hell here[ ie Amy in Oz] There were several times when I had to embarrass some Docs and nurses to get what John needed- I'll leave how I did that up to your imagination- but just remember "the squeaky wheel gets the lube job"! Identify and ask for one Doc to be the primary call person-he should know all the meds you are on- and you should have a direct phone # to his nurse. Insist on this!! Amy in the Ozarks