I once had a patient who left me a negative review because I told him his asymptomatic metastasis didn’t need me to radiate it despite my lengthy attempt to explain my rationale
I’d add failure to offer prognosis and failure to provide in a comprehensible, quantitative manner. Most people don’t spend their lives studying cancer survival rates by type, stage, and treatment effectiveness. They can be clueless about their situation. Research shows patients want and value prognostic information. The reasons why doctors give for not providing are understandable but not excusable in the vast majority of cases.
I'm particularly interested in how the quote at the end of item 2:
"We do have randomized data in some tumors that leaping to treat biological markers just adds more chemotherapy, more side effects, more cost, but no more life."
applies to kappa light chains in the context of multiple myeloma. My mom has started a new drug with this biomarker as the triggering mechanism. She was and still is totally symptom free. She suffered an aneurysm and then a subdural hematoma last year and has had a few ongoing, but still relatively minor cognitive issues. They seem to be getting worse with the new treatment.
MDs don't push me around because of my personality. I have had five cancers in 25 years and I had the best MDs and the best hospitals-- I live in NYC. And I was lucky. None of them was painful or even uncomfortable. Four of them involved surgery. One--stage 4 Lymphoma-- had chemo. I had no side effects at all. In fact, I never felt better because of the steroids. Also with the chemo I think the "cocktail" was copasetic with my chemistry.
Always appreciate your information. I am not a medical professional but found you and Sensible Medicine to be the voice of reason during Covid. In the fall of 2025, I was diagnosed with a squamous cell cancer, HPV+ at the base of my tongue that had spread to the lymph nodes in my neck. They didn't pressure me and I could have gotten a second opinion but the thought of early treatment for a cure led me to go forward with the 6 chemo (cisplatin) and 35 radiation treatments. Compared to other's cancers, I feel lucky so far. I am having CT scans every 4 months or so and a PT scan in a couple of months. I hope then that the scanning can be a lot more spread out . . .
I once had a patient who left me a negative review because I told him his asymptomatic metastasis didn’t need me to radiate it despite my lengthy attempt to explain my rationale
I’d add failure to offer prognosis and failure to provide in a comprehensible, quantitative manner. Most people don’t spend their lives studying cancer survival rates by type, stage, and treatment effectiveness. They can be clueless about their situation. Research shows patients want and value prognostic information. The reasons why doctors give for not providing are understandable but not excusable in the vast majority of cases.
Music to my ears...
Very helpful!! Thank you again Dr Prasad for helping patients understand their choices
FANTASTIC!
I'm particularly interested in how the quote at the end of item 2:
"We do have randomized data in some tumors that leaping to treat biological markers just adds more chemotherapy, more side effects, more cost, but no more life."
applies to kappa light chains in the context of multiple myeloma. My mom has started a new drug with this biomarker as the triggering mechanism. She was and still is totally symptom free. She suffered an aneurysm and then a subdural hematoma last year and has had a few ongoing, but still relatively minor cognitive issues. They seem to be getting worse with the new treatment.
MDs don't push me around because of my personality. I have had five cancers in 25 years and I had the best MDs and the best hospitals-- I live in NYC. And I was lucky. None of them was painful or even uncomfortable. Four of them involved surgery. One--stage 4 Lymphoma-- had chemo. I had no side effects at all. In fact, I never felt better because of the steroids. Also with the chemo I think the "cocktail" was copasetic with my chemistry.
Always appreciate your information. I am not a medical professional but found you and Sensible Medicine to be the voice of reason during Covid. In the fall of 2025, I was diagnosed with a squamous cell cancer, HPV+ at the base of my tongue that had spread to the lymph nodes in my neck. They didn't pressure me and I could have gotten a second opinion but the thought of early treatment for a cure led me to go forward with the 6 chemo (cisplatin) and 35 radiation treatments. Compared to other's cancers, I feel lucky so far. I am having CT scans every 4 months or so and a PT scan in a couple of months. I hope then that the scanning can be a lot more spread out . . .