Wow I so have the same situation with my RO office. Called them Thursday for help on what to do about my after Tx problems which just kept building and the physicians aide acted really snotty and dismissive on the phone. Literally she said it wasn't their problem, they are a specialized office dealing with radiation only. Pushed me off on my MO who pushed me off until Monday for an appointment. Since then I have had to go to the ER twice for all the crap thats been happening this week, one issue which could have killed me. My throat was swelling shut and I couldn't breath. Really upsets me. A cancer patient is not cured until they are well in my opinion, and the effects of treatment should be the second priority on the list. Killing the cancer being the first.

Interestingly, I am in a opinion that doctors and nursing staff (not just cancer but others as well) in my country are far more sensitive towards patient considering the immense workload they have. Ofcourse, there would be exceptions but I am yet to see. With my dad, they usually ask us to take appointment in advance but we can still drop in to their office. It just takes little longer to see them.

The same does not usually apply to the hospital support staff though! I try to handle them politely, but if they do not reciprocate, I have gone to the extent of complaining to the executive management.

I wish everyone had my TEAM!! I have a PCP that calls me regularly to see how I'm doing even though he gets the clinical reports from my surgeon every other month! My surgeon sees me every other month even though I don't have insurance and he writes it off! When we had the 1st Oral Cancer Walk here on 7/9/11, he was there walking with me!! I am so blessed in SO many ways!!!

Cathi, isn't great to know there are physicians out there that do care about their patients. About my first oral cancer walk last year, my dentist donated money and his partners came to do the screenings. He could not be there because he was out of town. I am thankful that I have the team I have as well. Are there things that could be better, like keeping my PCP in the loop, yes, but that is a little thing, because I get copies of everything and make sure she has it.

That's awesome cathi!! I'll take your dr instead, actually either will do - but yours genuinely seems to care a definite plus! Hank your so early post treatment you absolutely should still be given high priority. Your RO is full of crap. Especially where he that swelling is concerned - that is definitely related to radiotherapy!!! I would write down a list of potential issues post radiation, that are directly related to the treatment call them back tell them the correlation and that they ( ROs ) are normally your primary post treatment. I know for a fact that despite my desire for it not to be the case - my RO is the go to man at this point. I know this because I asked... You MO is usually not responsible for your care unless your principle treatment is chemo ( I believe ) and your surgeon is important only if it's a surgically related issue.
Make some noise!
I had a similar situation prior to my radiation. It was a surgical issue, I just wanted someone to take a look, RO refused to see me as I wasn't in rads at the time ( hadn't started ) wasn't doing chemo yet either. Got the runaround where none of them wanted to see me or take responsibility - the nurse was VERY frustrated. I was told to go to the emerge room, and they would call my surgeon out of surgery ( uh - no!) so I left very upset! They all got hell the next day from management ! As the nurse told the nurse practitioner who reported the incident. I got in to see my surgeon 2 days later! It felt horrible, and humiliating - with all that's going on when you have cancer no one deserves to feel that way! They have a radiation clinic that's open daily at my cancer hospital. They also need to have a chemo clinic, and Surgical clinic, that way the appropriate dr. Can take a look at the issue and deal with it. Just my HO... sorry you had to go through that Hank.

Cheryl is absolutely right.... you need to be the squeeky wheel and make some noise. You know in your gut if something is wrong or of course if you have questions.Too often they are on to the next patient... unfortunately there is a never-ending line of new patients. My ENT said he does 6 neck dissections/tongue free-flap surgeries PER WEEK. If you can't (physically) speak up for yourself, get a friend to do it.... Many times its just getting past the one the phone gatekeeper. I have learned that if I don't get anywhere, ask for a supervisor... even nurses have bosses.

It does help to make a little noise. It's always good, tho' to be sweet about it if you can, i.e. get to know the names of the office staff and keep records so you can refer to them by name. Anytime you are concerned about anything or even if just the stress level that gets to be too much to bear, someone needs to know about it so something can be done. Having a friend call is great, so that they can impress on the un-impressed how serious it is that you need some help. In the early days of my son's diagnosis, I was so stressed, my ex-daughter-in-law offered to call, pretending to be still married to my son, and got the appointment with the surgeon moved up from two weeks away, to the next business day! You health is important - emotional as well as physical. So, bring on the noise!