| | Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 5,260 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) |  Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 5,260 | I have a question,.. How many people in here that had to work for their wages ever got a tip from the Supervisor or the Superintendant of your job?? I always figured I earned a decent wage and didn't expect a reward for doing it.
Since posting this. UPMC, Pittsburgh, Oct 2011 until Jan. I averaged about 2 to 3 surgeries a week there. w Can't have jaw made as bone is deteroriating steaily that is left in jaw. Mersa is to blame. Feeding tube . Had trach for 4mos. Got it out April.
--- Passed away 5/14/14, will be greatly missed by everyone here
| | | | | Joined: Nov 2008 Posts: 20 Member | | Member
Joined: Nov 2008 Posts: 20 | Gifts are never expected by doctors. I especially like the hugs, as Diane suggested. The thank you cards are always appreciated, I actually save them all. But when gifts do come, they are also appreciated, but I never think less of people who don't bring gifts and treat everybody the same. So please, never feel obligated to give gifts. Doctors are professionals, but are also human and surprises like notes of appreciation are always special.
Lucinda 52 y.o. no risk factors -dxed 11/10/09 w/ Right lateral tongue SCC 2cm, bilateral neck dissection with 3 nodes positve on right, Induction chemoTx followed by ChemoradioTx, last Tx 4/3/09, PET/CT 11/8/09 showed no sign of recurrence.
| | | | | Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 5,260 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 5,260 | Forgot , I did take small surprises for the whole group at the Drs office, My mind is out in the wind the last few days. They even let me put the OC Foundation that Brian mailed me in all of the offices there. A mind is a bad thing to waste . LOL Seems I know how to waste one at times.
Since posting this. UPMC, Pittsburgh, Oct 2011 until Jan. I averaged about 2 to 3 surgeries a week there. w Can't have jaw made as bone is deteroriating steaily that is left in jaw. Mersa is to blame. Feeding tube . Had trach for 4mos. Got it out April.
--- Passed away 5/14/14, will be greatly missed by everyone here
| | | | | Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 5,260 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 5,260 | That was supposed to say OC Foundation brochures , man, what a clutz.
Since posting this. UPMC, Pittsburgh, Oct 2011 until Jan. I averaged about 2 to 3 surgeries a week there. w Can't have jaw made as bone is deteroriating steaily that is left in jaw. Mersa is to blame. Feeding tube . Had trach for 4mos. Got it out April.
--- Passed away 5/14/14, will be greatly missed by everyone here
| | | | | Joined: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,128 Patient Advocate (1000+ posts) | | Patient Advocate (1000+ posts)
Joined: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,128 | I just stuck a couple of OCF stickers around Doc Haakenslash's office.
Brian, next time around printing stickers, consider putting the website address on them.
Age 67 1/2
Ventral Tongue SCC T2N0M0G1 10/05
Anterior Tongue SCC T2N0M0G2 6/08
Base of Tongue SCC T2N0M0G2 12/08
Three partial glossectomy (10/05,11/05,6/08), PEG, 37 XRT 66.6 Gy 1/06
Neck dissection, trach, PEG & forearm free flap (6/08)
Total glossectomy, trach, PEG & thigh free flap (12/08)
On August 21, 2010 at 9:20 am, Pete went off to play with the ratties in the sky.
| | | | | Joined: May 2007 Posts: 622 Likes: 1 "Above & Beyond" Member (500+ posts) | | "Above & Beyond" Member (500+ posts)
Joined: May 2007 Posts: 622 Likes: 1 | [quote=Pandora99]Does anyone give a token of their appreciation to the staff (physicians and staff) at their CancerCare centers? If so, what and if not, why? [/quote] We took Homemade cookies, a cake and a couple of different kinds of homemade fudge up to the CCC, after all, it was around Christmas  It was well received and greatly appreciated by all.
18 YEAR SURVIVOR
SCC Tongue (T3N0M0) diag 06/2006.
No evidence of disease 2010
Another PET 12-2014 pre-HBO, still N.E.D.
�Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. It matters that you don't just give up.�
Stephen Hawking | | | | | Joined: Jul 2008 Posts: 228 Gold Member (200+ posts) | | Gold Member (200+ posts)
Joined: Jul 2008 Posts: 228 | I just brought Christmas cards to my ENT and speech therapist (I don't see my speech therapist for therapy anymore but they are both in the same office so I say hi when I go see my ENT). My speech therapist was seriously on the verge of crying because she thought it was the sweetest thing ever, and my ENT said she loves cards and stuff because it's the thought that counts. So, simple is good!
Stephanie, 23, SCC on the right side of my tongue, surgery on 5-19-08, over half my tongue removed, free flap constructed from my forearm, bilateral neck dissection, one positive node. Radiation (32) and chemo (carboplatin) started on 6-16-08. Recurrence 4/09 in lungs.
**** Stephanie passed away 12.15.09.... RIP our dear friend****
| | | | | Joined: Nov 2002 Posts: 3,552 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Nov 2002 Posts: 3,552 | I simply let them know that I am enjoying life and being a productive person again and that I wouldn't be here without them. They see enough death and suffering that they should know that some of us get through to the other side.
Last edited by Gary; 12-17-2008 01:07 PM.
Gary Allsebrook
***********************************
Dx 11/22/02, SCC, 6 x 3 cm Polypoid tumor, rt tonsil, Stage III/IVA, T3N0M0 G1/2
Tx 1/28/03 - 3/19/03, Cisplatin ct x2, IMRT, bilateral, with boost, x35(69.96Gy)
________________________________________________________
"You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14 NIV)
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 4,912 Likes: 52 OCF Founder Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | OCF Founder Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 4,912 Likes: 52 | I like Gary's answer. Every year I write an email to the 4 main doctors in my team. I used to do it every Thanksgiving, but I now do it at Xmas which was the anniversary of my treatment starting. (Merry F#$%^^& Xmas!) I tell them that while I have issues, life is productive and good. That I have learned through my experience that living part of my life (well perhaps a disproportionate amount of it) in service to others was a lesson that I needed to learn, and my cancer experience taught me that.
I thank them for making it possible for me to lead what I call a very rich existence now, and that without their knowledge, skills, and care I wouldn't have the chance to enjoy the fruits that life now holds for me. I tell them that my helping others through this process that they made possible, I hope honors them, and thank them for the gift of life that they directly gave me. I guarantee you it will beat the fruit basket every year.
Brian, stage 4 oral cancer survivor. OCF Founder and Director. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.
| | | | | Joined: Apr 2005 Posts: 2,219 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Apr 2005 Posts: 2,219 | Hey Brian,
The next time you thank your doctors, give them a thanks from the 5767 members of the OCF, for giving you the opportunity to create such a wonderful place for us all to gather, learn and help one another.
It is a privledge and an honor to be a member of the OCF.
Jerry
Jerry
Retired Dentist, 59 years old at diagnosis. SCC of the left lateral border of the tongue (Stage I). Partial glossectomy and 30 nodes removed, 4/6/05. Nodes all clear. No chemo no radiation 18 year survivor.
"Whatever doesn't kill me, makes me stronger"
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