Other CCCs may operate a bit differently from MDAnderson. When Barry was diagnosed on June 21, 05 -- surgery done at a local hopital by his ENT -- the ENT called Hopkins that afternoon and got him an appointment for the 24th. We ended up going on the 27th, the doctor with whom we were to consult had an emergency. That was just as well, Barry felt pretty sh-tty after the tonsillectomy. After that initial consult, this doctor (a surgeon) presented Barry's case to the tumor board -- he also had us set up appointments for the next week with HNC medical and radiation oncologists. He called us back Thursday with tumor board recommendation, but we already had been prepped that it would be chemoradiation and no more (pre-treatment) surgery.

When we asked the Hopkins doctor about getting a second opinion, he recommended Sloan-Kettering in NYC, and a specific oncologist. We called this doctor's admin assistant on Wednesday and she called back Thursday with an appointment first thing Tuesday morning (Monday being a holiday, the 4th). Both CCCs wanted all the MRIs and CT scan plates, the surgical report, path report and also, the original slides. Actually for S-K the local hospital cut new slides as Hopkins still had the first set. We took the train up to NYC with plates, slides et al.

I was very impressed as to how quickly both CCCs operated and how seriously they took the situation re fitting these appointments into the doctors' already busy scedules.

But note -- although each individual consult took only 2-3 hours, the actual process was longer -- involving the tumor board, re-reading of slides by resident pathologists, examination of scans by their radiologists and final arrival at a treatment plan recommendation. This is probably why MDACC says 5-7 days for this all to take place. That is, from first consult to final appointments where you meet and have a treatment plan laid out for you.

After agreeing on a treatment plan (we had some decisions to make re chemo drug and also, whether to enter an offered trial) Barry had his initial simulation on July 18. In that time span he also met with a dental oncologst to be sure no work needed to be done on his teeth before radiation started. (He had none, but if had needed extensive work this might have delayed things.) They also took impressions for his fluoride trays.

A that point we went up to Maine for a week to kick back and relax before the "show" began. The only glitch was that Hopkins somehow lost (strayed ot stolen?) Barry's finished trays and he had to go in as soon as we got back to have another set made, asap.

He started treatment August 10, which was 7 weeks after diagnosis. They could have started him a week earlier if he had wanted, but no sooner than that (it takes two weeks for them to do the planning after initial simulation).

Gail