Conference Morning

This morning I have an appointment scheduled with our family physician. He's really a great doctor and has been a great resource for me through this cancer fight.

Unfortunately my oncologist has kind of gone AWOL recently. Oh he's still there everyday. But it's almost like he quit his job, but he's still showing up for work.

He's missing things. He's not reviewing reports well. He's not trying. He's just given up on his work it seems.

My oncologist is not the man he used to be, very thorough, very involved. He has had personal health problems. He also had a trip home to India cancelled because of the health problems. He drags his feet, never smiles. His head is always down.

He's a good guy and I hope things get better for him. But selfishly, right now I feel like I'm being my own doctor, and I'm not qualified for that.

I don't know what to do about it. And that's what I want to discuss with our family physician. Do I corner the director of the cancer center at Lancaster General and discuss it with him? Do I take all of this somewhere else like the Hershey Medical Center, or dare I say it the Univeristy of Pennsylvania Hospital?

I don't know. Although I feel better than ever, the Torisel seems to be having some mixed effects. I hope to know more about that. But I have to get a doctor to help me first. There are new drugs on the horizon. It didn't make me feel comfortable that I was the one to fill my oncologist in on the new drugs.

Hopefully something will come out of the pow-wow with our family doctor this morning. When you're dealing with cancer, you absolutely need a doctor who is willing to keep learning, who craves learning. Because the treatment of cancer is a very fluid thing these days with new treatments and efforts being revealed literally everyday.