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I agree, Tonya, you do have beautiful children. As for your original question, all I can do is tell you my and Nikki's story, briefly. She had a surgical onc., and rad. onc., and her regular onc. that worked sort of like a team out of different offices, but communicated regularly. Her surgeon, (chief surgeon of a major hosp. ) would talk about whatever you wanted to talk about when in the office. Nikki called him her boyfriend. We had his home number and cell phone number. When he goes on vacation, he often travels to perform "pro bono" surgeries. Nikki's rad. onc. always gave her a big hig and would spend as much time as we wanted with her. A few weeks ago I went to see the rad. onc. Dr. C. and all I wanted to do was thank her for all the years of care that she gave Nikki and leave a flyer for this site with her and promote it, but next thing I know, I'm sitting in an exam. room, and she's spending almost an hour with me, looking at the flyer and discussing anything I want to and telling me the she's going to put the flyer in a packet for all new patients to receive. Dr. P., the surgeon was the same way. I went to the hospital on one slow Sunday afternoon, and he was there, as I knew. We talked the same talk, as long as I wanted to. Nik's chemo. onc. was the same way. Gave us as much time as we wanted. (I still need to visit her, stopped by the office to drop off fliers, but she was at the hosp.) I'm sorry for the rambling, but, in my opinion, the good oncs. will spend as much time with you as YOU want to, and in their "spare" time, they are traveling around the country, sitting in conference halls and participating in seminars, like Dr. H. always did. I've had people tell me that we were lucky, or blessed to have such great doctors. I do feel that we were blessed; however, you make your own luck. Nicola educated herself constantly on this site and through other research. Fortunately, I was able to be with her during 99% of her visits with her docs. We were like two Rottweilers ganging up on them, and they realized we were not gonna go away. Early on, they understood that we were informed in regards to Nicola's disease, and seriously intent on pursuing every avenue to cure it. Also, when you/we have to sit waiting for hours to see the doc., it doesn't always mean that they have overscheduled. Often it means that they are willing to spend as much time as needed with their patients. Assert yourselves and become the patient that keeps the doc. in the room, while other patients wait in the lobby. Sometimes, you can't just go with the flow. Stay strong, Bill
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