Lani, You are one smart cookie. I wish I knew even a 1/4 of what you did! I CAN'T get any answers from my doctors if its TOO LATE to even do Rads if I could find someone that could do it without damage? No one seems to know when its too late to do Rads? Yet they MUST have some idea since they STRESS between 3 & 5 wks. (Where did they get that time frame...there must be a reason for it?) I'm at 11 weeks already...is there any sense to it this late in the game thanks to THEM dragging this out!
If I got a 2nd opinion...it WILL take time. HMO's take forever! Even two more weeks is a LONG time in my case it seems? I would love to go to Standford...I didn't know know they were top knotch in the radiation field. It sounds like the place to go! I don't think my insurance company would pay for this? I could check Monday? If nothing else I wonder if I could get anyone in the Rads dept at Stanford to talk to me over the phone about this? I can try. Thanks for all the info. They still might tell me I am TOO LATE for rads thanks to my screwed up medical team.
What gets me is they tell me NOT to worry about NOT getting Rads...but before they made this decision...I just HAD to get rads with my stage III cancer. I would be sorry if I didn't'. They STRESSED that to me. Now they tell me not to worry about it. (What am I suppose to believe!) Why was it SO IMPORTANT when they THOUGHT they could do it...and now its not!
The rads onc told me if my recurrance rate was 40%...he could knock it down to 10 %. Now its no big deal. He said I could NOT afford to NOT get radiation at that time.
Like you said Lani, the girl that was told to call me said it makes no difference in over all survial. If that is true...why do they PUSH Rads so hard on everyone? It must make SOME difference. I wish they would just be HONEST with me and tell me the truth...I dont know what to believe anymore. I am close to a melt down and its due to them NOT talking to me. I am left in the dark all the time no matter what I do.
I do know I need to get on some type of anti hormonal drugs asap if they can't do rads as you said. My oncologist WAS at this meeting about me...has she called me to tell me to come in. NO!!! She knows I am on NOTHING. We haven't even discussed what I will take! She says femara, and the other bigger cancer center told me Tamoxifen and Lupron shots I think they said.
I have to go get herceptin Monday so I will see if I can talk to my onc doc asap. This is putting so much pressure on me I am falling apart. I have never felt so out of control.
I do think I want to at least call Standford about my situation and I pray they will at least talk to me over the phone? Find out about these trials too if its NOT to late for me. I should of been DONE with rads by now...thats how LATE I am. Darn them!
Lani, THANKS for ALL the brainstorming for me. That means the world to me. You didn't have to do all that and you did. Your one in a million...thanks so much. If Standford handles the most difficult cases...I would be perfect for them. The question is if my insurance would pay for it as I don't have that kind of money. And if they will....how soon can I get there...and is their any benefit to doing rads this late in the game?
But thanks again! You gave me good info.
Chelee
Threaded Mode