The clock is always ticking in cancer world.
If cancer is a hereditary concern, it’s just a matter of time before the genes do what they’ve been preset to do and the cancer begins to grow. In some cases of breast cancer, or colon cancer and others, it’s important to start the check-ups early to monitor any early signs of changes. There are so many tests now that can do that.
And then there’s the more immediate time frame. Going to the doctor, getting blood tests or scans that will tell the tale of where the cancer is at this moment. It’s a pins and needles kind of day. We’ve all sat there waiting to hear what the results will say. There isn’t a more anxiety filled time than waiting for that exam room door to open, when the doctor walks in to report on the report. But wait, not everyone gets those results so quickly. Instead of a few hours, it can be days, even a week or more for that phone to ring with results. It’s agony. We all know that in this age of medical machinery, tests are completed and results can be had in hours. Sure, they need to be read and written-up by an expert, the doctor has to review it too, but as the clocks ticks, the patient can hardly resume a normal routine until the resutls are known.
Time, precious time…give us those results. We need to know.
Good news, not so good news, we’re living with cancer, so we’re already prepared for either outcome. It’s just the “time thing,” the waiting, that really makes us crazy.
April 13, 2011 @ 10:27 am
It seems that one of the things missing from all of the medical school, internship and residency training is a course or perhaps several courses on How to Interact with Your Patients or a better title “If the Shoe Was on Your Foot.” Probably should apply to nurses and also to PA’s. For many in the medical profession, we are just a name and number among the hundreds they must deal with each day. The tests are unsettling enough but waiting for the results allows our minds to conjure up the very worst especially if you’ve already had a test result that said “It is malignant” or a scan that says, “The nodule has changed in size”. It is a shame that patients in many regards are looked upon as an inconvenience or worse, a nuisance but that is a very real perception in many offices, clinics and hospitals. Perhaps Laurie can begin the change at Hopkins with this blog to allow interns and residents to have a glimpse of the real cancer world before they go forth into it.
April 12, 2011 @ 5:11 pm
I’ve made this comment many times. I too realize that many hands touch test results before the patient is given the results but if everyone involved could just realize what it must be like for those people waiting, those phone calls might come a little quicker. And for goodness sakes, don’t leave a message on an answering machine that they know will not be received until the office is closed. I bet 99% of their patients have provided a cell phone as a secondary number, so please call that if nobody answers at home! It may seem like a little thing to the person making the call but to the cancer patient and their family it means everything. Yes, the waiting game was one of the most frustrating pieces of cancer world.