Mom's case has been re-assigned to another doctor at DFCI, and we'll meet him for the first time next Friday at 4:15pm. Amazingly, they would have been able to fit us in as early as tomorrow, but it will take at least a week for all the medical records to be faxed from various offices, pathology slides to be Fed-Exed, and medical records organized. DFCI likes to look at all the specimines collected and read them on their own, which I think is an excellent policy, and well worth the wait.
I've spent all morning on the phone with administrative assistants and doctors, and every single one of them was lovely. My grandfather told me the other day that the medical system is a disaster- to which I said, "EASY"- to which he said, "Except for you, of course." Today, I disagree. In a perfect world every medical facility would have access to all patient records so we woudln't waste all this time trying to coordinate it all, but at least the people I've been dealing with have been polite, attentive, and thoughtful. Makes this process so much more tolerable.
Just as a reminder, if you haven't already contacted Susan Eastman, and you're interested in being part of Mom's Helping Hands network, Susan's our go-to gal, so get in touch with her! eastmans@raveisre.com
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4 comments:
Hi Monica and Lizzie:
Glad to hear you're up and about physically as well as beginning to make some of those calls! This is great progress!!
Also glad to hear you're sending path slides to DFCI. This is definitely the way to go and any good doc should request slides, not just report.
As for the medical system, I have found most oncology offices and staff have a higher level of customer service and empathy, which, along with Monica's excellent service, give the medical system some cudos to go along with all the mud we sling at them!
Lizzie, please don't be disappointed (or freaked out) if this new doc reads your slides and gives you a different result than your prior docs. This does not mean that one doc is wrong. I speak from personal as well as Hospice experience on this one. As most good docs will tell you, if 5 docs review a set of slides today you'll get 5 different answers. If the same 5 docs review the same set of slides a week later, you'll get 5 new and different answers. In other words, this is not an exact science and diagnosis and treatment is not always as black and white as we'd like.
Keep up the great progress!
Lissa
Hi, all --
Monica, one of the reasons that the system responds well to you is your amazing in-the-moment relationship building skills. You telegraph empathy out of every pore (except when Ratchett surfaces, but I'm sure that's rare). That skill is key to working effectively in any system, but especially the one you live and work in. So glad you are having a positive experience with DF -- hoping against hope it continues all along the way. Haven't stopped thinking about you both -- about you all! xo E
Lissa, we've been there, done that! First time we went to DFCI, they read Mom's slides as cancer free, where as St. Frannie read them as positive for cancer. Well hello! Peed my pants right then and there...
Susan Eastman and Monica are just both better than a baked potato stuffed with cheese, jalapeno pepper slices, onions and homemade baked beans.
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