Get a Second Opinion, like How?

In serious medical situations --any time a procedure is called for--we are advised to "get a second opinion." But exactly how do you do that? Many times the surgery or treatment is urgent--they want to do it now or tomorrow or next week. If you live outside one of the big cities: New York, LA, Chicago etc. how do you find the second expert?

Even if you have a name or a hospital how do you talk to your current doctor? Self-advocacy is recommended but it's tough. We are dependent on our doc so it can feel hard to say, "I want to consult with someone else." And most times when we say that it is our own doc giving us the two or three names that are his colleagues. Those are folks he works with frequently--they do his second-opinions and he does theirs. So it's not exactly arms-length.

How do you get the best doc?  The truly top expert on your illness, cancer, disease or surgery? Most of us talk to friends, and friends of friends  but now there is another way to do this.

In today's Wall Street Journal is an article (see the link below) about ConsultingMD, a new second-opinion firm that can provide access to experts around the globe and they can review your data and reports online to advise from long distances. Here's a compelling fact: In 60% of cases reviewed for a second opinion an alternate treatment is recommended--and that course is often cheaper and more conservative.

So take a look at the article below and save this for when you are a friend are looking around.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323869604578370810275073122.html

What About the Doctor?

I have heard so many stories from folks in CancerLand about doctors who disappear when the diagnosis is terminal, or who will not give a terminal diagnosis even when death is just a few days away. And stories of doctors who joke or rush or can't make eye contact with a seriously ill patient. What is that about?

In today's New York Times Jane Brody gives us a sense of what that may be for the physician who is treating someone with cancer. And she introduces us to some new interventions for the doctors--that can help them to cope and to stay emotionally present when cancer and death are near.

Again, the take away for all of us is that some form of meditation really works. It doesn't have to be Buddhist or New Age-ish but it is helpful whether you are the patient or the healer.

Take a look at this article. Here's the link:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/aiding-the-doctor-who-feels-cancers-toll/?smid=pl-share

Poetry Month: Raymond Carver

Do you remember the moment when you heard, "It is cancer"? Raymond Carver shared this moment from his life and his cancer in his poem,

What the Doctor Said:

He said it doesn’t look good;

he said it looks bad in fact real bad

he said I counted thirty-two of them on one lung before

I quit counting them.

I said I’m glad I wouldn’t want to know

about any more being there than that

he said are you a religious man do you kneel down

in forest groves and let yourself ask for help

when you come to a waterfall

mist blowing against your face and arms

do you stop and ask for understanding at those moments

I said not yet but I intend to start today

he said I’m real sorry; he said

I wish I had some other kind of news to give you

I said Amen and he said something else

I didn’t catch and not knowing what else to do

and not wanting him to have to repeat it

and me to have to fully digest it

I just looked at him

for a minute and he looked back it was then

I jumped up and shook hands with this man who’d just given me

something no one else on earth had ever given me.

I may have even thanked him habit being so strong.

--Raymond Carver

Why Doctors Die Differently

Look at this article from Sunday's Wall Street Journal. Doctors--even those that treat cancer--make different choices than their patients. Because they know some stuff. This is a great reminder of a key concept in cancer caregiving and care. A doctor will only answer what you ask and you have to ask very specific questions to get very specific answers. If you say, "Will this chemo help me?" the answer might be yes. But if you ask, "Will this chemo specifically and significantly improve my life expectancy and quality of life?" the answer might be different.

Read this. Food for thought.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203918304577243321242833962.html?mod=googlenews_wsj