5.26.09 - radiation #6 and finally a doctor i really like

had radiation #6 today, then met with dr. rost. he's the medical director of radiation oncology and he's my doc. there is something about him that is so disarming and so reassuring and so down to earth. there is no pretentiousness about him at all. the only other doctor i've met since my ordeal began that i trusted and felt safe with was dr. mark moasser at UCSF. the two medical oncologists that i'm stuck with here because of insurance are absolute...well, we don't need to go into that again. i've already raked them over the coals in this blog and i hate thinking about them. i talked to dr. rost about them a little bit today, told him i think they should be run out of town (to say the least). i like dr. rost's body language and the way he listens and responds. it's so shocking and so wonderful to have a doctor here that i like and trust.

i asked him what he thought about genetic testing. i assumed that because my birth mother and grandmother died of breast cancer that spread to the bone, he'd say i needed it, and if i was positive for the BRCA genes, then i'd need to have an oopherectomy. but he said no, that because i'm postmenopausal, it's not necessary. he expressed more thoughts about it, but bottom line is that he doesn't recommend it. no one else has told me that before.

then we talked about scans. he said i'd have a PET scan of my body six months after the end of chemo, which means november. (my idiotic med onc said i'd only need chest x-rays and bloodwork every three months, that i won't have any scans at all. i'm ignoring him completely and only listening to rost. rost agreed the chest x-rays are unnecessary.) he said they don't do a scan of the brain. i asked why, since i've read that one of the main places breast cancer comes back is the brain. he said that if had cancer spread to the brain, we'd know it - headaches and i'd act strange. then he said, "but in your case that would be hard to know," which totally cracked me up! he's got me figured out.

i told dr. rost how much i like having him as my doctor and that he seems like a teddy bear. i hope that didn't insult him. i meant it in the best way possible. he's got the most adorable face and smile, and he's very teddy bearish in a nice hugable sort of way.

i am so enormously relieved to have a doctor i like and trust, and so encouraged by the thought that i might not have to have the genetic testing and oopherectomy, i sat in my car and cried and cried. it felt good.