Beating Back Cancer: Health care

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Getting to Specialists

A blogger at heart, I am writing as my husband and I wait for my initial visit with Sunita Nasta, MD, who will be instrumental in determining protocols after collating a plethora of data. As an educator in a Professional Learning Community at our high school, I have learned the value of collecting data, and the importance of relevant data and its interpretation as it applies to students. More recently, I have employed data-driven decisions in managing my health care options.

Here's what we have learned. For each level of your journey, beginning when you may suspect, like me, you have cancer, you need to think specialist, not a general MD, or a general oncologist. The generalists may be starting people with whom you consult, but they should guide you to a specialist. The example I was given was simple. An oncologist may see 20 patients a day, but s/he will see all forms of cancers, whereas an oncology specialist may see 20 patients a day, but only in that specialty. So, getting to a specialist quickly is important.

Throughout the United States, patients come to the University of Pennsylvania Health System for diagnosis, treatment, and maintenance. The best decision I made was selecting Penn over other well-known cancer centers, including Fox-Chase, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Jefferson Kimmel Cancer Center, Memorial Sloane-Kettering, and MD Anderson. What drove my decision was knowing that the best specialists in my area of cancer researched, practiced, treated, and celebrated beating back cancer. That is, after all, the goal.

Betting with the Best

When life moves off the track you know to unfamiliar terrain, betting with the best is the only way to go. Research, deliberate, and then insist on the best. Following my own advice, I have carefully selected my caregivers and I have been well pleased, not an easy place to achieve with my acute standards. For those of you who are familiar with the University of Penns ylvania Health System, I am in the West Pavilion in Penn Medicine Center. This wing locates me as a cancer patient, and someone who is interested in exploring traditional and alternative treatments, including clinical trials and experimental therapies, if deemed necessary. Specifically, my husband and I are in the Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, meeting with Sunita Nasta, MD, an oncology-hematology specialist with interests in Non-/Hodgkins Lymphoma, Leukemia, and Bone Marrow Transplants.

The University of Pennsylvania has a long and well-established history as forerunners and innovators in medical science at all levels or medical care. William Pepper, Jr., MD (1843-1898), the third in the family line of physicians in the early history of the hospital, spearheaded major early development and expansion. A Laboratory of Hygiene, the University Library, University Museum, William Pepper Laboratory of Clinical Medicine, Veterinary School, Wharton School of Business and Commerce, School of Nursing, ad Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, as well as several expansions of the hospital occurred under his spirited creation.

A milestone in radiology, including the world's first X-ray, produced here in 1890, as well as a leader in radiation oncology, cancer care and cures, and nursing education and excellence, the University of Pennsylvania Medical Health System is simply the best. That's why I am HERE. I want the best facility, the best physicians, the best equipment, the best treatment! It is critical in your diagnosis, treatment, and cancer care to make informed choices. Decide criteria for what constitutes best for you. That could include simply wanting the best diagnostician, surgeon, hematologist, radiologist, oncologist, but best includes a wide array of other emotional factors. My comfort zone one year ago centered in a small country hospital with the best compassionate care. Many physicians also practiced at a larger city hospital, but dedicated a smaller practice to my area of rural America, so I had the best of both worlds. Best may be a collaborative doctor who engages you in decision-marking (always my choice), or you may prefer a medical professional who directs your treatment with minimal input from you, perhaps making your journey just a bit less stressful. Best is individual, relative, and always your perception, so bet on your best.