So Many Choices….
Stop the presses!!! An old fashioned expression I guess, but it holds a lot of weight in cancer world.
There are so many publications these days and so many articles on what causes cancer, what fuels cancer, what kills cancer, it’s more than any one can process.
How does a cancer patient or care giver decide on treatment? How does a cancer patient decide on the best place to go for that treatment?
I’d bet that once the words, “You have cancer” bounced off the walls of the exam room you were in at the time, you made a mad dash to the Internet and you “Googled” your cancer. Why not get educated? Being informed is an important part of living in this world. But it can create havoc too.
There’s so much information out there on the web…some good, some not so good and most of us are not in any position to filter out the bad info. And when it comes to treatment, we can really get confused. Add the pieces of finding the best place for that treatment and the best doctor who fits your case and BINGO….it’s the perfect storm.
I wish there could be a central cancer center. A place where all knowledge is stored about this disease. Where the experts would go to mine the fields of research and discovery so everyone would be treated equally.
So….what do we call this place?
April 11, 2012 @ 2:09 pm
It sounds like a wonderful place to have. So much time and energy is spent on research for your cancer and what treatment options you have and the thought of being able to go to one place and get all/most of your answers would be a dream. Fighting cancer and caregiving take so much out of you that there is precious little energy to do much else. Maybe one day such a place will exist.
April 11, 2012 @ 11:27 am
There are several centers of competency around the US where there are really good doctors, leading edge trials and treatments plus support for the cancer patient/caregiver and family. Unfortunately, many newly diagnosed are so overwhelmed with the news that they and their family members cannot or will not take the time to become educated about the specific type of cancer. Often the trust is placed in the local doctor which may or may not be a good thing. Seems that some local doctors are reluctant to suggest a consult or second opinion at one of these centers and the patient relies upon the doctor to help them navigate a course of treatment. Sometimes it works for the best and sometimes it leaves the patient and family wishing that they had done more.
The issue is now being even more complicated by the recommendations of these 45 doctors who have a list of tests that should not be done unless there are overt symptoms of a problem. “Let’s wait and see” is now the catch-phrase for do nothing until it is too late to potentially affect an outcome in a positive way for the patient. This seems to be just the beginning of rationing of healthcare BUT the Congress and President refuse to enact Tort Reform which would go a long way in reducing the use of many of these tests not to mention reducing overall malpractice insurance costs and probably overall medical costs.
So Laurie, your idea of a central repository of medical/cancer information available to all is outstanding…..it makes sense…..would not be difficult to do since the information is largely available now but dispersed across many databases. It would take some time and some smart people. Should not involve the government…..it’ll never happen and it’ll cost another trillion dollars to discover that it can’t be done. Surely there must be catchy acronym for this repository.