when you get melanoma, you don’t get one doctor, you get a group of doctors. in recent months, i’ve worked to expand that group to be a multi-disciplinary team of practitioners, both in conventional hospitals and integrative care facilities. i’m in the even more unusual situation of having care in two countries. initially, it is very overwhelming. all of a sudden you have a new and unwanted job, and you need to manage a large team of practitioners, and their varying styles. the information is also confusing and sometimes conflicting, so curating all that information and facilitating communication becomes a central part of your day. PLUS, there are insurance issues… but that is for another post. it is a scary and vulnerable feeling to be living fully in the hands of others.
drafting your team is pretty intense, and it is all happening when you are deep in grief. it is a world that i knew nothing about until i was thrust into it. i didn’t even know there were different types of oncologists, and i definitely didn’t know that patients had any agency or choice in the situation.
a lot of patients will tell you to “shop around” and find the best oncologist for your disease. in some ways, i did this. last may, when we discovered the cancer had moved to my lymph nodes, my oncologist in bangkok did not exude confidence for me. he was approximately 98 years old. he looked like doc from ‘back to the future’ and was surrounded by stacks of papers up to his eyebrows. when he was rifling through files and books to look up the most recent data on melanoma, i knew we were in trouble. he had never even administered immunotherapy! this was not the right doctor for me. we researched the melanoma specialists in canada, and made the decision that it made the most sense for me to be based in ottawa. i was reassured that there were a few specialists at the ottawa hospital, and we were able to get in quickly for appointments.