Dear Donna,
I admire you so much for how you handled a difficult situation. I think it was awesome how you fired him in front of the head nurse. He certainly deserved it. I am quite aware how you have to be your own advocate. I have learned to question many things that Doctors tell me because in my case so many of them have been incorrect in diagnosing Oral Cancer. Today in fact the internist that I used to see called me to see how I was doing. She said she just received many reports about my surgeries. I saw her for 2 months with a horrible lesion on my tongue before she referred me to a Head and Neck surgeon who turned out to be awful. She refused to do a biopsy because my tongue was too sore. I saw her many many times. I have told this story before and it seems like so many of us have our story to tell. I really would love to be a patient advocate. Hospitals are really lacking people that could be key people to a successful practice.
Also, when my head and neck surgeon told me that the Oral Cancer didn't spread but I now have thyroid cancer which is so easy to take care of because we remove your thyroid and then you take a pill that kills any cancerous remaining cells that are left. WRONG!!!! NOT SO EASY. YOUR THYROID CONTROLS SO MUCH LIKE METABOLISM, HEART RATE, BODY TEMP. HORMONES ETC. He forgot to inform me that I would me off thyroid meds for a month and I would feel lousy and that I would need 2 body scans to see if the cancer spread to my lung. I just don't get it!!! Why as patients are we so misinformed. I think all of us should write a book about our experiences. They are all so meaningful. What do you think about that idea.?
Rosalie Stage 1 Oral Cancer, Thyroid Cancer, Breast Cancer??????????(hope not)