MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'doctors life'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:57:28 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3784455&cid=t_409569_136_f&fid=35303&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.assertivepatient.com%2F2010%2F07%2Fgetting-around-the-gatekeepers.html Anyone who has lived with cancer or another serious illness for awhile probably knows all about gatekeepers. Most of us have a good story or two about a gatekeeper who refused to give us access to our doctors when we really NEEDED them. Here's my most recent gatekeeper experience: My Doctor Fails Me And here are the three suggestions my oncologist had for getting around HIS OWN GATEKEEPERS: 1. Show up at the clinic, without an appointment. "Our patients do this all the time," my doctor said. "If you're in the waiting room, we'll see you."2. Go to the ER, and tell them whose patient you are. If you're in&#01... The Assertive Cancer Patient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3784455 Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:15:08 +0100 3784455 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3776567&cid=t_409569_136_f&fid=35303&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.assertivepatient.com%2F2010%2F07%2Fa-double-catch22.html What do you call it when you've been caught in TWO Catch-22s in one day?A Catch-44? A Catch-22/22? Or just a damned mess?I thought I was on a roll yesterday morning, making arrangements to fly to California for an appointment with the doctor, Dr. Ibrahim, who is heading up the T-DM1 clinical trial in Highland, California. I e-mailed the woman who will be making travel arrangements for my friend Monica and me. I e-mailed a hotel near the clinic to make reservations. And I e-mailed the study coordinator, Tricia Ramos, to ask her if she could make the appointments for the tests and scans I need to have done at the clinic where the trial is taking place. Tricia had already told me that the results of my tests and scans done at other facilities would not be acceptable, and I wou... The Assertive Cancer Patient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3776567 Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:50:49 +0100 3776567 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3589016&cid=t_409569_136_f&fid=35303&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.assertivepatient.com%2F2010%2F05%2Fopen-wide-.html Well, I had delayed for as long as possible, like two years or more, but I finally had to go and see my dentist a couple of weeks ago. I knew something was wrong, and I had that "putting it off will only make it worse" feeling, so off I went. I should point out that I go to a very good dentist, and I like him and trust him, but I HATE having work done in my mouth and with all my cancer-related medical appointments it was easy to make excuses not to go. Very easy. But I was having some pain way back on the upper left, and also a lymph node under my left ear was swollen and sore, which I thought might mean an abscess, but that proved not to be the case. Just two new cavities in very bad places, one of them under an old filling that had cracked. Here are the proble... The Assertive Cancer Patient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3589016 Fri, 21 May 2010 20:23:37 +0100 3589016 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3052344&cid=t_409569_136_f&fid=35303&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.assertivepatient.com%2F2009%2F12%2Fa-brighter-day.html I woke up this morning feeling lighter. Now, this is a good feeling, so I'm not going to analyze it to death, but I was kind of surprised. I didn't think I was particularly stressed, although the past two days, which I spent writing out my entire cancer treatment history, were, in hindsight, rather tiring. OK, a lot tiring. It also helps that the sun was shining when I woke up, and it's still shining two hours later. It looks like it's going to be one of those perfect late-fall days: cool and bright. Suddenly, I have the energy to do chores that I've been avoiding: laundry, cleaning the kitchen, cooking a pot of vegetable soup, and changing the sheets on my bed--always a luxury, clean sheets. I also have a couple of jewelry orders to fill, ... The Assertive Cancer Patient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3052344 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:07:31 +0100 3052344 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2970383&cid=t_409569_136_f&fid=35303&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.assertivepatient.com%2F2009%2F11%2Fzap-me.html So, to recap: I have pneumonia and C. diff., and I was anemic until a blood transfusion last night. But no blood clots in my lungs and no cancer cells in my cerebro-spinal fluid. Right now, despite the one new tumor in my skull, I feel like I've dodged a bullet, yet again, because it could have been so much worse. Dodged big time. Today, I discussed the various types of radiation with two of the doctors here, and I agreed to treat this new tumor with a gamma knife procedure.I have the appointment set up for Thursday next week, but I'm not sure yet if I will keep it. I had told Dr. Lee that I wanted to go back to the radiation oncologist at Swedish who has radiated me three times in the past, but he had the doctors here come and see me anyway. Maybe that was office... The Assertive Cancer Patient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2970383 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:26:15 +0100 2970383 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2836197&cid=t_409569_105_f&fid=38964&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdrwes.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F09%2Ffinal-opus.html It was midnight and the Emergency Room door opened like a curtain on a Broadway. A lone man sat in blue at the countertop, writing. Behind him, the chorus, working feverishly on the protagonist - the script rehearsed a thousand times before.Clothes off, Story?, facemask, C-collar, endotracheal tube, breath sounds, telemetry, IV’s, blood work, pulse ox, Stop.Resume, Pulse?, patches, register, call the lab, Allergies?, epi, atropine, Pressure?, twitching, NG, x-ray, Stop. Pulse?Resume, pacing wire, max output, capture?, not quite, “potassium?”, not ready, blood gas, foley, Capture! Stop.Resume, blood gas, no capture, damn, tweak, better, pulse?, yes. Lab?, no, Which meds?, cardiologist, Go.Vent, hoist, prep, stick, contrast, open, shock, balloon pump, a-line, movement, labs, blood gas,... Dr. Wes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2836197 Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:54:00 +0100 2836197 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2639698&cid=t_409569_136_f&fid=35303&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.assertivepatient.com%2F2009%2F07%2Fnot-quite-ready-to-talk-about-it.html Quite a few of my friends and probably many of my loyal readers know that I have some treatment decisions to make. It has become apparent that because of cumulative chemo toxicity, I can no longer tolerate normal doses of conventional chemo drugs. (See: Running Out of Options)A good part of my spring and summer were given up to tests and scans to find out why I am so short of breath, and the answer, when it finally came, was disappointing. The most likely reason is simply the tumor load from my cancer. And then just before I left for Germany, I got the results of a PET/CT scan that showed significant disease progression. In addition to the tumor in my right lung, which has grown slightly, I now have cancer in two places in my lymph nodes. There are also lots of new spots ... The Assertive Cancer Patient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2639698 Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:51:56 +0100 2639698 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2424426&cid=t_409569_136_f&fid=35303&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.assertivepatient.com%2F2009%2F05%2Fone-down-.html Good news today. I actually almost started dancing during my appointment, I was so happy to hear that my heart is fine! Absolutely, perfectly, wonderfully FINE.Once the cardiologist had said that, there was very little more to discuss. I felt like jumping up and dancing my way out of the office, but I sat there and asked a few good questions, so now I have more info for the future. For example, she doesn't recommend repeating the ECHO exam routinely, just if I have symptoms. And, if I do have heart damage down the road, I asked if I would have to discontinue the Herceptin and Tykerb, and she said it would depend on what my other treatment options were. But it might be possible to treat the heart problem without stopping the Herceptin and etc. That's good new... The Assertive Cancer Patient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2424426 Tue, 19 May 2009 21:43:30 +0100 2424426 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1733716&cid=t_409569_136_f&fid=35303&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.assertivepatient.com%2F2008%2F08%2Fmore-my-doctor.html Readers posted lots of comments to "My Doctor Doesn't Like Me!"--What to Do?. I liked Amorette's comment: "For me, the course of action depends on the specialty, how much I need them, and how often I have to deal with them. ... "The only reason I chose to stay was that it was relatively unimportant. If you don't have a good rapport with the doctor who's supposed to be very involved with the hard work to save your life, move on ASAP. If they don't act concerned, if they don't find you interesting, it's a key indicator that they're not going to try. And you need as many people trying as you can." And MaryM added, "Sometimes I think feeling disliked is a mis-match between treatment styles," which I think is a very good point. Brooke made my point better than I had made it myself when s... The Assertive Cancer Patient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1733716 Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:28:20 +0100 1733716 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1726296&cid=t_409569_136_f&fid=35303&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.assertivepatient.com%2F2008%2F08%2Fmy-doctor-doesn.html I just had coffee with a woman named Violet who has stage IV breast cancer, as I do, and she told me that she doesn't think her doctor likes her. Now this is a huge hot button for me, because I think it is essential that my doctors not only like me, but understand me and my way of thinking. It doesn't seem like too much to ask, especially when you have a serious illness like metastatic cancer that cannot be cured. That "cannot be cured" part means that you will be spending a lot of time with your doctor or doctors, and often they will be giving you bad news (although the news from my doctors lately has been mostly good--knock wood). So I want to throw this topic open for discussion, because I know the regular readers of my blog will have lots to say-- Have you ever had a doctor who ... The Assertive Cancer Patient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1726296 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:26:02 +0100 1726296 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1070300&cid=t_409569_140_f&fid=35448&url=http%3A%2F%2Fseemedlikeagoodideathetime.com%2F2007%2F12%2F04%2Fcreepin-crud-craftin%2F by UM Ever been diagnosed wrong (D?) Ever traveled from doc to doc knowing damn well something is wrong with ya? But, just because you know it to be so doesn’t cut with all the specialists. You make endless visits, round after round, given different diagnosis, different advice, different pills…and so forth and so on. Well, I have. And, so has D. So, I took it upon myself today to dig deep and research our problems. Well, D, I have the name of our disease……. CREEPIN’ CRUD! It’s where the crappy feeling starts on one end of your body and makes a few detours around innards and outards until it finally covers every single each of your body and soul. BUT…..there is good news. I have the cure…… THERAPY CRAFTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, you read... bipolar chicks blogging blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1070300 Wed, 05 Dec 2007 01:26:13 +0100 1070300