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Welcome to the ATL~
Hi Rendi,
Welcome to Atlanta! I hope your move goes smoothly!
I love Atl, even though my family is all on the West Coast/Hawaii. It's a really affordable city & yet still metropolitan enough without the extra hassles of a huge city.
All of my docs are part of the Emory University Hospital/Winship Cancer Institute system.
The campus is located in the NE part of the city, though the Crawford Long Campus is a little closer to Riverdale.
I can't say enough about my team of docs @Emory. They truly believe & susbscribe to treating Stage IV disease like a chronic one and have done an amazing job for/with me. (Incidentally, I'm truly inspired that you've been kicking your disease's a** for almost 10 years!)
I was dx'd StageIV w/liver mets @my primary dx in May 2002. I've been on & off treatment throughout, currently ON for activity in the mediastinal nodes & just completed my 94th round of chemo!Ugh!But I feel great, have my hair (thanks to Gemzar).
My treatment's run the gamut -liver resection in 12/05, mastec & reconstruction, rads for supraclav nodes recurrences and have remained on maintenance Herceptin q3wk.
The 1st year of my dx, I was seeing a private practice onc, but with the complexities of my disease, I found myself running around to multiple different docs/surgeons, hauling scan reports, re-telling my medical history to strangers over & over again, then having to wait for the other specialists to communicate with my onc, not to mention waiting for scan results... It was such a hassle.I feel quite certain that I would not be here today if I hadn't changed docs and moved to a truly integrated care system.
Now, all my docs are under one roof, even just a hallway apart! On more than one occassion, I've sat with my surg. onc & if we had a question about my treatment, they could call my med. onc. & she'd walk over & we'd all chat. Or if there's a question about labs, scans etc, they can access the computer in the exam room & pull up any info they need.
We have enough to deal with, remembering all the details of our disease, it's such a relief to be able to sit with docs that you trust and know the details of your disease(or atleast have immediate access to)as you do. And since this is a CHRONIC disease for us, my docs are always willing to adjust my treatment schedule to accomodate the rest of LIFE. I just traveled w/my med.onc & surg.onc to a huge Surgical convention in San Fran last month as a patient speaker about Cancer as a Chronic Disease.The bottom line is they just get it.
Dr. Ruth O'Regan is my clinical onc. She's at the Emory campus. She's a wonderful kind person and an amazing doctor. If there's anything else I can do to help, please dont hesitate to call on me!
Keep the Faith~
Jessica
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