My new oncologist

I saw my new oncologist today. I love her. She is so, so, so much better than my old oncologist! She is honest and open and willing to tell me things and just everything that I could hope for in an oncologist.

I'm going to see her every 2 months for now, we'll do tumour markers and other bloodwork before those two months, and I'll be going onto the Pamidronate instead of clodronate (the IV form of a bisphosphonate instead of the oral form). Although I have the littlest cataract in my left eye, since the Femara is working enough. And she will do scans every year, starting with this summer.

Her nurse even offered to put me in touch with the social worker. This is awesome!!!

I did find out something that made me quite angry. Apparently the her2/neu test for my recurrence was inconclusive and my old oncologist was going to order a more specific (FISH) test. My old oncologist never told me about this. Her2 status has a lot to do with treatment and is sort of linked with how aggressive a cancer is, and there's a particular chemo (herceptin) that is prescribed to treat it. If my cancer is her2 positive then I'll receive herceptin whenever I start chemo. We won't give it to me until then.

Her2 status is as important an indicator of cancer as the cancer's hormonal status, and my old oncologist didn't tell me that there was anything going on. We don't know if she ordered the additional test or whether she got results. I'm shocked and upset.

I definitely feel like I made the right decision to leave my old oncologist. This new finding cements my feeling that she was keeping things from me and that I couldn't trust her. But I love love love love love my new oncologist and at least I have made the switch!