Postby NHMike » Wed Jul 26, 2017 8:52 pm
Lovenothate wrote:Thanks for the reply NHMike!
The nearest thing in Las Vegas I would assume is the Comprehensive Cancer Center so I'll be looking into that. Not much great help in the west that I've heard of but I will be on the search. I'm assuming records are shared from oncologist to oncologist?
Thank you for your time
Emily
I was thinking more of NCI Cancer Centers and you can see these on a map at
https://www.cancer.gov/research/nci-rol ... nters/findI didn't see any in Las Vegas though there are a bunch in LA and SF. I don't know much about the Comprehensive Cancer Center in Las Vegas other than their name is the same as the NCI designation but they don't seem to carry the designation.
Here's a list of the top 20 US News and World Report Cancer Hospitals:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/866909The one that I picked for a second opinion was Dana Farber Cancer Institute which is about an hour away from me and they are ranked #4. The local hospital that I am using for treatment is an NCI Cancer Center and it's the only one in my state. I'd say that the hospitals that are highly ranked for cancer are more streamlined to handle cancer in volume and I found the doctors to be sharper and better up-to-date on clinical trials and nuances in treatment.
As far as communications go: I keep a list of all of my contacts on my phone and pass on the list of people to each doctor that I run into so that they know who to contact if they need something. Doctors can communicate if they are on the same or compatible Electronic Medical Records systems but it seems that many places are just getting started with this. Sometimes I had to bring reports from one doctor to another, sometimes I had to bring DVDs with imaging from one doctor or hospital to another and sometimes the other doctors had all the information electronically. The thing is to not assume that everyone knows what's going on. Sometimes you have to explain something several times to different doctors.
6/17: ER rectal bleeding; Colonoscopy
7/17: 3B rectal. T3N1bM0. 5.2 4.5 4.3 cm. Lymphs: 6 x 4 mm, 8 x 6, 5 x 5
7/17-9/17: Xeloda radiation
7/5: CEA 2.7; 8/16: 1.9; 11/30: 0.6; 12/20 1.4; 1/10 1.8; 1/31 2.2; 2/28 2.6; 4/10 2.8; 5/1 2.8; 5/29 3.2; 7/13 4.5; 8/9 2.8, 2/12 1.2
MSS, KRAS G12D
10/17: 2.7 2.2 1.6 cm (-90%). Lymphs: 3 x 3 mm (-62.5%), 4 x 3 (-75%), 5 x 3 (-40%). 5.1 CM from AV
10/17: LAR, Temp Ileostomy, Path Complete Response
CapeOx (8) 12/17-6/18
7/18: Reversal, Port Removal
2/19: Clean CT