Brooke,
Very sorry to hear about the loss of your mother. I can only imagine how hard this was for your mother and you after all you had been through in the last year.
On a related note...Before my mother had surgery to remove mouth, jaw and floor of mouth in Feb 2002, the doctor requested a PET scan to rule out any spread or problems anywhere else. After it was done he said my mother was good to go for surgery. After she was in hospital 3 or 4 days after surgery with tubes, trache,etc. and unable to talk without anyone there she was visited by someone from the gastro service. This was a teaching hospital so my mother was constantly being probed and prodded by different groups of doctors. She was told that her PET scan showed a questionable result in the area of her colon. Of course she was concerned and of course her family was angry that they told her this when there was noone else present and had not discussed this finding before surgery as that was the reason for it. Later we talked to her surgeon and he said it was not a big concern, probably the questionable PET scan was the result of hemorrhoids, but that sometime in the future she should schedule a colonoscopy.So far my mother has not scheduled this test and I can only say that I don't blame her. I agree that people need to listen to their doctors, but the doctors need to get on the ball as far as scaring patients and not showing a lot of compassion when someone is in miserable shape. The different doctors that visited my mother during her stay varied and hit all points on the spectrum as far as bedside manner.