Ben and the Dragon

We met with an oncologist today. We discussed what treatment options might be available to me, and she also set up a PET scan for me in two weeks. The scan is basically to see if any cancer cells have spread beyond the single lymph node they found cancer in when they did the biopsy following my excision surgery in early July.

I was not really impressed by this doctor and I’m not sure she’s going to be a good fit for me.

• She doesn’t seem to have a good handle on her own schedule.
  • She expressed concern as to why we had waited a whole month to see her for this first visit… we hadn’t waited, it was just the first available spot in her schedule.
  • She also scheduled us to come back in two weeks and then one of her desk staff complained to us under her breath while scheduling the follow up visit (which could not be scheduled for at least three weeks) that this doctor frequently tells people to come in on a date when there are no openings in her schedule and often are no openings for sometimes several weeks after that.
• I also had a very difficult time communicating with her because English is not her first language and I don’t personally have the conversational skills needed to work through that kind of language and cultural barrier.

Basically, I’m not going to be comfortable working with any doctor if we cannot communicate easily and effectively. I guess for now we’ll get the scan, talk to her again after she sees the results, and then proceed from there.