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My sister's tentative diagnosis metastatic cancer
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<blockquote data-quote="seriously" data-source="post: 461740" data-attributes="member: 11920"><p>No my Mom doesn't know yet and I personally feel no one should tell her until they have an actual confirmed diagnosis from biopsy or whatever is the appropriate way to confirm it.</p><p></p><p>At this point the oncologist has not been to see my sister since she told her a week ago that the CT showed that my sister had cancer.</p><p></p><p>I am really ticked at the doctors at this facility.</p><p></p><p>First the hospitalist tells my sister there's an abnormality on the CT scan but doesn't have a diagnosis. Sister calls me anxious but OK.</p><p></p><p>Then the oncologist visits my sister and tells her she has cancer while my sister is totally loopy on pain medications and afterwards isn't sure the whole thing was real. Sister asks nurse who says they are no female oncologists and the CT report said there were no abnormalities. Nurse tells sister she must have overheard other patients and visitors or doctors talking. </p><p></p><p>Sister calls me confused and upset.</p><p></p><p>I call the hospitalist. Yes there are abnormalities on CT. It would be premature to give a diagnosis until a bone scan has been done. Yes the oncologist is female and he didn't know she'd seen my sister. And he is going to ask a spine surgeon to look at the CT because he might have a different opinion than the radiologist. Apparently the radiologist also said cancer but the hospitalist didn't actually say that when I pressed him.</p><p></p><p>I call sister and say - need to wait for bone scan on Wednesday. Sister anxious but OK to wait for results.</p><p></p><p>Bone scan Wednesday. </p><p></p><p>Hospitalist visits my sister on Friday morning and tells her - all OK, the spine surgeon says it's arthritis. </p><p></p><p>Sister calls me happy and relieved.</p><p></p><p>Hospitalist comes back Saturday morning and tells her - no the oncologist says everything is consistent with myeloproliferative metastatic myeloma. Hospitalist says we will do a biopsy to confirm but yes he thinks oncologist is right since she had access to all my sister's records. His conversation with my sister is based on his hearing the oncologist's chart notes rather than an actual conversation with the oncologist.</p><p></p><p>Sister calls me distraught.</p><p></p><p>Then Saturday evening the darn PAIN doctor comes to see her and scoffs at the cancer diagnosis. Tells my sister there's all kind of possible explanations for the abnormalities in the bone marrow that showed up on the CT. WTH????</p><p></p><p>Sister calls me happy and relieved.</p><p></p><p>I swear I have whiplash from all this.</p><p> </p><p>My sister would much rather hear the good news than the bad. I cannot blame her since the cancer diagnosis appears to be pretty much a death sentence with life expectancy in the months not years category.</p><p></p><p>I find it very hard to believe that even the most arrogant and inexperienced oncologist would diagnose someone with this if they were not pretty darn sure of the diagnosis. And, after doing some research, I know that it explains some aspects of my sister's health problems over the past several years including her frequent life-threatening infections, some persistent lab abnormalities like very low WBCs and high calcium levels and her ever increasing severe pain that has been blamed on her gut problems but has only gotten worse despite ever increasing levels of pain medications.</p><p></p><p>I surely hope that the oncologist is wrong. But my gut tells me she's not.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="seriously, post: 461740, member: 11920"] No my Mom doesn't know yet and I personally feel no one should tell her until they have an actual confirmed diagnosis from biopsy or whatever is the appropriate way to confirm it. At this point the oncologist has not been to see my sister since she told her a week ago that the CT showed that my sister had cancer. I am really ticked at the doctors at this facility. First the hospitalist tells my sister there's an abnormality on the CT scan but doesn't have a diagnosis. Sister calls me anxious but OK. Then the oncologist visits my sister and tells her she has cancer while my sister is totally loopy on pain medications and afterwards isn't sure the whole thing was real. Sister asks nurse who says they are no female oncologists and the CT report said there were no abnormalities. Nurse tells sister she must have overheard other patients and visitors or doctors talking. Sister calls me confused and upset. I call the hospitalist. Yes there are abnormalities on CT. It would be premature to give a diagnosis until a bone scan has been done. Yes the oncologist is female and he didn't know she'd seen my sister. And he is going to ask a spine surgeon to look at the CT because he might have a different opinion than the radiologist. Apparently the radiologist also said cancer but the hospitalist didn't actually say that when I pressed him. I call sister and say - need to wait for bone scan on Wednesday. Sister anxious but OK to wait for results. Bone scan Wednesday. Hospitalist visits my sister on Friday morning and tells her - all OK, the spine surgeon says it's arthritis. Sister calls me happy and relieved. Hospitalist comes back Saturday morning and tells her - no the oncologist says everything is consistent with myeloproliferative metastatic myeloma. Hospitalist says we will do a biopsy to confirm but yes he thinks oncologist is right since she had access to all my sister's records. His conversation with my sister is based on his hearing the oncologist's chart notes rather than an actual conversation with the oncologist. Sister calls me distraught. Then Saturday evening the darn PAIN doctor comes to see her and scoffs at the cancer diagnosis. Tells my sister there's all kind of possible explanations for the abnormalities in the bone marrow that showed up on the CT. WTH???? Sister calls me happy and relieved. I swear I have whiplash from all this. My sister would much rather hear the good news than the bad. I cannot blame her since the cancer diagnosis appears to be pretty much a death sentence with life expectancy in the months not years category. I find it very hard to believe that even the most arrogant and inexperienced oncologist would diagnose someone with this if they were not pretty darn sure of the diagnosis. And, after doing some research, I know that it explains some aspects of my sister's health problems over the past several years including her frequent life-threatening infections, some persistent lab abnormalities like very low WBCs and high calcium levels and her ever increasing severe pain that has been blamed on her gut problems but has only gotten worse despite ever increasing levels of pain medications. I surely hope that the oncologist is wrong. But my gut tells me she's not. [/QUOTE]
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My sister's tentative diagnosis metastatic cancer
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