How can you be sure it’s the best care?
How do you know there isn’t a place across the country, or across the city that won’t give you better cancer care?
It’s a patients’ nightmare. It’s a care giver’s nightmare too.
You want the best for your loved one. You do your research, you ask the tough questions and still you can’t be sure.
You question yourself too. Did you make the right decisions together on treatment? When you hear the words, “There’s nothing more we can do,” did you make the right next step?
If you’ve done your best, then rest easy. There really isn’t anything more you can do.
It’s out of your hands now.
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January 26, 2014 @ 4:54 pm
I believe that in thousands of small towns and cities (I grew up in one with a population of 200), the local doctor’s word carries the day. Oh, you may be referred to the larger city doctor-specialist but 2nd opinions and going to major treatment centers are rarely talked about. My father died from melanoma 32 years ago. It was not discovered until it was too late. He did not accept any treatment..just let nature take its course. Not unusual in our little town.
Today with the internet and so many savy family members, it is not unusual to seek the best place to go for treatment and the best specialist to see. Sometimes money and insurance is an issue. I’ve suggested Angel Flight for my friend Cathy to get to MD Anderson for treatment of melanoma.
I think most people diagnosed believe initially that this cancer can be whipped; therefore, they are more likely to seek sophisticated protocols and doctors. In our little town, the family GP was “the Man”. If he couldn’t fix it, it was not fixable. So by the time I knew anything about my father’s situation, it was too late and the end was not too far away. Based upon today’s standards, we did not do our best. Unfortunately, what happened at that time was all we knew.
January 24, 2014 @ 7:31 pm
Oh how often I have asked this question but you’re right..we did the best we could and I can’t go back.